Training Therapy

Winter is a really hard time for me. By the end of December I usually run out of steam overpowered by cold and darkness. I continue struggling through the next few months drowning in work, laundry, kids homework, tests, gymnastics, gymnastics competitions, flu, strep, guilt that the dogs hadn't been worked. I am starting to come up with more and more excuses why I cannot get up at 5:30 to work the dogs, why I cannot get up off the sofa and do some retrieve or scent discrimination exercises that only require few minutes of my time.
I keep on telling myself that if I just sit here staring at the TV for an hour or so, I will feel better tomorrow and get back on track, but of course tomorrow there are more reason why I cannot do this or that. I blame time change that forced me back into the darkness in the morning after I saw the daylight around 6a.m., I blame the rain the cold anything else that fits the bill.
This evening I had a pleasant surprise - both kids were occupied with different activities that didn't involve me, until 8 in the evening. I came home and realized with the surprise that it's still light and even pleasant outside. After quick calculations I figured out that I still have about 40 min of the daylight. I grubbed the dogs and headed to the nearby school to do some work.
I started the usual race against the time, pressed by the view of the sinking sun, when suddenly everything stopped. By the time I started working with the second dog I forgot about the time, the rush and the sun. There was just me and the dog. Nothing else mattered. When we were done and I looked at the watch I discovered that it's later than I expected and the most importantly I felt centered again and ready for the kids, dinner, bedtime stories or what ever else the rest of the day was ready to throw at me.