Today’s coping tip is to look for good in others, particularly when you feel frustrated.
We all deal with conflicts with others throughout out lives. How we handle those often says a lot about us. As I age, I try to avoid getting emotional and upset, reacting too quickly, and working to understand why someone said/acted/did something.
Today, I’m thinking about my dog. He’s a frustrating beast at times, growing out of puppy stage, but still young. He was a rescue/adoption and a nervous boy. He loves my wife, but he bonds well with all of us.
One of our struggles is leaving him at home. He mostly goes to work with my wife, but there are times where he’s at home and I or someone else needs to leave and he wants to follow their car. I was heading to the gym recently, and I had to turn around a couple times to put him back in the house. We don’t want to lock him in as he’s still getting housebroken, so we’ve been giving him a treat to keep him busy while we leave.
A frustrating period of time as I was trying to get gym time during a lunch break, but I had to remember how much this guy loves me and how often he makes me smile. He’s not trying to be frustrating. He just wants to be with me.
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.