"Old Saying is About an Old Dog and Me" by Susan Pearl

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks".

I remember seeing an interview with a dog trainer when the interviewer asked if some dogs are harder to train than others and why would that be. The dog trainer answered, "All dogs train the same if they are willing to please".

I then remembered how when I was young it was important for me to please people.  The happiness of others and to keep things going well were my rewards.  I made promises just to say "yes" and to get them to stop asking me.  My heart wasn't in a lot of these promises and, as a matter of fact, I even resented being asked to do so much for others all of the time.  Finally, I learned to say "no".  The world didn't stop but some of these friendships did end.  I guess I had been an enabler and a rescuer without knowing it and I had been part of a dysfunctional relationship.  My 'treat" had now changed to still wanting the best but it had to come without me doing the other person's part in any way.  To see them succeed without me was my "reward"- "treat".

Now I am older and I don't want to please anyone anymore and consequently I still don't jump through the hoops they hold out for me to jump through.   So I definitely know, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" because it is "not important to the old dog to please" the trainer anymore and to the dog is no longer worth the effort to try to learn something new for the same treat.

As long as I live I hope to do new and interesting things but they will be new things that I
want to do and enjoy---not what someone else wants for me to do when I know I really don't have that much interest in it and it is not important to me to say "yes".. To true friends things like this don't matter because there is a mutual respect for each other.