On memories of chasing a dog

There was a spot of time a few years ago where I was going through a major depression. My finances were in disarray, my dating prospects seemed to get dimmer by the day, my car was broken I could feel myself getting distant from all I cared about…I felt like I was sinking and nothing could go right. And the more I thought about it, the more I got down on myself.

One day during this period, I went out to get a bite to eat. While I was out, I saw a dog run into the middle of a very busy local road. The dog somehow made it across the street unhit and kept running onward. Concerned about the dog, I decided to keep following it to see if I could capture it and return it to it’s owner.

So I followed it for about an hour trying to catch it through parking lots and the like. There were a couple of times that I almost succeeded, but it ran away first. Finally, it wound up springing into the hands of a man that scratched it’s ears which I’m pretty sure was it’s owner.

At the time, I viewed that as a failure. After all, I was never able to actually catch the dog, which is what I set out to do. And really, he might’ve run that way anyway.

Looking back though, I was completely wrong in that view. The dog was safe. That’s what mattered. And whether I had a part in that or not matters little beyond that.

I don’t put this up here to brag, but rather to remind myself of it and of the lesson I should remember: not everything has to go according to plan for something to become a success. Sometimes, the best successes just happen naturally.

And because of such successes my friends, life is back to being good. 🙂