I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

It's taken me awhile to get used to living where I do now. I moved up here almost two years ago from my hometown, and knew no one except for my husband. I felt cut off, isolated, lonely, and directionless. One of the things that depressed me the most was that I went from a supportive, motivated group of agility friends to (what I thought was) an agility wasteland. Without a consistent place to train, no friends to motivate me, and no real space in my own yard to do much, I lost all motivation and passion for agility. It wasn't fun anymore. So I didn't do much. I enjoyed my dogs as pets and started forcing myself to leave the house more. The PW's helped motivate me in that regard. Have I mentioned that I love them? LOL

Over the past year, a lot has changed for the better. I made some new friends teaching for the local dog club, and through those experiences, was presented with the opportunity to teach at a new dog facility opening up this fall. It is state of the art.... beautiful new equipment, a heated indoor building, outside rings for more training opportunities, and, lots of other good stuff. I have been teaching there just over a month, and it has been absolutely fabulous.

I have also been teaching agility in a town about an hour away for the past few months. It has been fun getting to know a whole different group of people, and I've really (unexpectedly) enjoyed getting beginning students, some who have never even had a dog before, hooked on agility.

My favorite part of being an instructor, so far, is seeing my students improve from one week to the next. To see them conquer challenges that seemed impossible before. To watch them become more in tune with their dogs, and seeing the dogs respond and step up their game. It's pretty cool.

I'm in a much better headspace than I was in a year ago. For the first time in a long time, I am starting to feel like I belong somewhere. It's a good feeling.