I’m drowning in UFOs – unfinished objects.
I can’t honestly remember just how many courses I’ve signed up for online but never completed (or even started with some). I’ve played my piano just once this week and I haven’t picked up my clarinet for months. I have several cards to make and I’ve not even started Christmas ones. There’s a part-knitted jumper in a bag, piles of wool in a box in the corner for crochet patterns I’ve collected, and just behind me there’s a part-made rug which I started 15 years ago…
Nothing has changed about me wanting to do them – but wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things.
I get started on a project, things become busy, other priorities arise, I get distracted, flip into imagination mode, and pronto! I’m enticed by another idea. I switch to the new idea, enthusiasm builds, moving along nicely, interest wanes, I get distracted, flip again into imagination mode and…you guessed it!…get another idea.
Which is why I have so many unfinished courses, schemes and half-completed craft projects. Never mind not doing what I promised myself in January – to do daily regular music practice! Instead, my piano and clarinet are quietly gathering more dust in a corner.
When you start training your dog it’s like falling in love. It’s exciting, emotionally arousing and novel. It’s easy to become obsessed about the new activity. You see it as fun and exciting and it’s easy to find the time to practice the exercises we’ve given you.
But then the novelty starts to wear off and things start to feel a bit harder. And, if we’re honest, become more routine and therefore seem more boring. Other things seem more attractive than continuing to train your dog. You promise yourself you’ll get back to it properly soon – but that time never comes.
And your dog suffers.
Keep safe and keep training
Carol