Recently, I took Hazel (my Belgian Malinois service animal) to Costco to grab egg whites and coffee.

I chose a time I knew wouldn’t be crowded, so there’d be plenty of room in the aisles and less chance that someone would bump into her or something.

I grabbed the egg whites, grabbed the coffee, and took them to the self-checkout.

Nobody was nearby.

I positioned Hazel right next to me and put her in her sit position, watching me, with her tail tucked. Then I scanned and paid for my groceries.

“ARF!!!” Hazel suddenly yelped, darting behind me, shaking and terrified.

I whipped around to look…

And RIGHT there was a lady with a shopping cart that she’d driven over Hazel’s tail.

I could feel my face getting red and sweat breaking out all over my body as anger rose up.

“Was she not out of the way enough for you?” I demanded of the lady who ran over Hazel’s tail. “Seriously? She was way over here! You had all this room, and you still ran over her tail?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the lady apologized.

I know she didn’t mean to do it, but the whole thing was SUPER frustrating.

See, Hazel is my responsibility.

Sure, as my service animal, she protects me in some ways, but she’s a dog living in a human world, and so many humans are clueless about how dogs really are.

She needs me to look out for her so she doesn’t get herself in trouble.

So when I take her someplace public, I do everything I can to protect her.

In this case, I chose a time where Costco wouldn’t be busy.

At the self-checkout, I put her in her sit position, out of the way, with her tail tucked.

And STILL, this lady managed to run a shopping cart over her tail, even though there was literally NOBODY else nearby.

Maybe believing I could keep her safe at Costco was wishful thinking on my part (even though I’ve done it before). Who knows.

But the whole thing was a reminder that you can plan your heart out, do everything right, and STILL, things can go wrong.

I see this a lot in weight loss, too.

Not shopping carts running over dog tails (haha), but people trying their hardest and STILL falling short.

You know what to do to lose weight, and you can’t seem to do it.

Or you do everything right and wake up to a GAIN on the scale instead of a loss.

It’s frustrating, it’s discouraging, and it makes you wanna say screw it.

One of the things we’re all fighting with all the time is our own minds.

The mind is a beautiful thing in many ways…but when you don’t understand how it really works, it’ll play tricks on you and work against you, even while you’re trying SO hard.

It’ll be that equivalent of someone running over your dog’s tail, even though you did everything you could (short of not trying at all) to get the best outcome.

It’s really frustrating to feel at war with your own mind all the time.

AND if you’re not sure where to turn, the Code Red Identity Shift is a great place to start.

It’s SIMPLE, like everything I do, and it shows you how to train your mind to get on your side, all in just 10 minutes a day.

Learn more and sign up for the next one (or join the waitlist) at www.21dayshift.com.