In last Wednesday’s post I mentioned there are a number of lessons I’m taking away from the recent weirdness. It was too much for one entry, but I think the leftovers are pretty tasty, so I’m sharing them in follow-up.

Here’s another.

I hate not knowing what to do.

No, what I really hate is feeling I’ve made a mistake and not knowing how to fix it. (Let alone admitting that to anyone.)

This is how the doubt and paralysis got started. It is a pattern that is easily triggered. I’m working on it. Things are much better than they used to be, but I still haven’t passed Perfectionism Recovery 401.

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I’m not a huge fan of astrology, but I am a fan of Rob Brezsny for no other reason than I like his writing and his weekly email cheers my inbox and, well, sometimes his horoscopes are freakishly spot on.

Like this part of what he had to say to we Scorpios at the end of March:

Negotiate partial solutions to complex problems. In other words, do the half-right thing when it’s impossible to do the totally right thing.”

I love this. It’s my new MO.

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PS. This is how ridiculous the doubt can get when allowed to spread and why I need a new MO to help me nip it in the bud.

Our dog had surgery about two weeks ago. Routine removal of benign lipomas. Though he was feeling no pain when we brought him home, he was out of his mind.

Our only job (besides calming him down and keeping him comfortable) was to make sure he didn’t pull out the drains. We (stupidly) refused the cone-collar thingy thinking it would add to his crazy.

And – you guessed it – he pulled out his drains. And ate them.

I later learned that this is not uncommon and pretty harmless. He wasn’t the first dog to do this and won’t be the last. He’s fine. Two weeks later you wouldn’t know anything happened to him except for the shaved spots (they ought to make canine rogaine for these situations).

But at the time I truly saw it as proof that I was a complete screw up as a human being who couldn’t do anything right and my dog was going to die a horrible death because of it.

At least I can laugh about it now.

Related posts:

1. Lessons Learned #17 – Using a hammer when you need power tools
2. Lessons Learned #5 – Underestimating Possibilities
3. Lessons Learned #15 – Out of Time
4. Lessons Learned #19 – The next level of resisting bright shiny objects
5. Lessons Learned #9 – It's Better with Denzel