Bruce Kasanoff* reminds us that advice is cheap — which is a good reason to be careful about how much you serve up.
It’s easy to write long theoretical pieces about the right way to make difficult decisions.
However, when it comes to real life, they are still painful and extremely wrenching.
I want to share a personal example. In the photo above you see Bo, a two-year-old sheepadoodle dog who lives in a Manhattan apartment with my daughter.
For the past month, Bo has lived with us in Vermont, because my daughter has a new baby and Bo has a bad habit.
He guards random objects: A sock or a pencil or sometimes a ball.
In a few months, there will be random objects all over my daughter’s apartment.
In a few more months, my granddaughter will be teetering around with food in her little hands. Bo is not a safe dog to keep in that environment.
However, I can’t tell you how much we all love Bo. He is loving and fun and smart. He means well.
It has taken my daughter and her husband a long time to come to terms with the thought of rehoming him.
No one — including me — wants to confront the idea that Bo will disappear from our lives.
However, keeping him in a small space with an unpredictable toddler represents a danger to both my granddaughter as well as Bo.
Thus, my daughter has finally come to the conclusion that she loves Bo enough to set him free.
If you live somewhere between New York City and Vermont — and you don’t have kids in your home — perhaps you are the owner Bo needs.
For those of you who don’t live nearby or who may not even (gasp!) like dogs, here’s something to take away from this blog: Everything is easy in theory, but that’s not the way real life works.
When we try to offer advice to people who are struggling, it’s important to avoid saying things such as, “Just do _____.”
The ‘just do’ part is seldom as easy as you make it sound.
*Bruce Kasanoff is the founder of The Journey, a newsletter for positive, uplifting and accomplished professionals. He can be contacted at kasanoff.com.
This article first appeared at kasanoff.com.
