You're going to have to make some basic personality changes if you intend to survive in homeless nation. And don't give me that wounded fawn look. It won't work. Savvy street puppies are immune to wounded fawn looks. They're kinda like giving roses to a goat. He'll probably eat the roses and your watch, and then ignore you for the rest of your life.
Now, you want to give me the thousand yard stare? Ok. Then, maybe you'll have my sympathy. But, being Mr. Nice Girl, or Guy, don't feed the bulldog -or the goat - out here in homeless nation.
' Nice' is when somebody crunches your foot while leaping over you to get a meal ticket at a 'feed,' and you say, breathlessly, "Oh, it's ok, don't worry, I didn't need that shoe today." and then like a pinhead, you say..." Gee, oh, I'm so sorry...did you hurt yourself on my bloody foot?"
See, a proper street puppy would put their nose right in the guy's face and growl, "You do that again, and I'll put yer lights out....now give me that meal ticket."
You've probably been doing it all of your life. Being nice to others so they will love you.
Way back there, when life was, um, normal, you caught "The Disease To Please."
Probably around the age when you noticed you weren't getting anywhere by demanding stuff, and that would be at about the age of whenever it was when the folks started grounding you for doing naughty stuff. And instead of sulking about it because you really wanted to go to the dance on Friday, you....you clever person you....figured it out, and nearly gave them heart attacks by offering to take out the garbage, mow the lawn, and do the dishes every night. And you got to go to the dance.
And you had stumbled onto the age old way of how to get your way. Be submissive; avoid initiating confrontations; put the needs of others first; flattery, flattery, flattery; insincerity 'till it spilled out of your ears; being self-effacing; keeping your opinion to yourself; smiling when you wanted to kill , and one of my favorites disguising your unbridled disgust with your basketball coach for being an idiot, by demonstrating in so many groveling ways that you were a team player.
In short, you became a hypocrite. A manipulative shape-shifter pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities and standards you do not possess.
Heck, you probably shape-shifted your way into a whole lot of bad situations, including the one that brought you here to homeless nation. Who knows? If you were a real good shape-shiftin' manipulator, There may have been a whole bunch of those situations which finally just blew out and melted down the circuits in your conscious mind.
See, and when the conscious mind is shocked, confused, paralyzed by indecision, and just plain scared to death, ( kind of like what happens when you become homeless) the shadow self emerges from the shadow previously cast by the shape shifter. the shadow self which has carried all that pent up repression built up by all those years of living a kind of lie. And that shadow self is here to party!
And it's perfect timing for the shadow self to emerge. And be who you really are. You're here in homeless nation, you don't need to be Mr. Nice Girl...or Guy anymore. In fact, you're better off letting that shadow self lead the way out here, because being 'nice' will get you nowhere but getting your foot stepped on a whole lot.
And I'm not talking about shape shifting from 'nice' to ' good. ' Can't be done.
Good is what you are deep inside. Good is that part of the soul that wouldn't have anything to do with that shape-shifting goat of a personality you brought in here. I'm talking about not letting people walk all over you for things a lot more important than a meal ticket.
And you start by saying "No." A lot. And, "Why?" And "I don't agree." And ya don't explain it by adding on, "Um, well, what I mean is..."
Just "No", "Why?" and "I don't agree "will be sufficient to let others know that you think for yourself, and you won't be talked into doing something you don't want to do, or giving away something you want or need for yourself, or agreeing with anything that goes against your own standards or better judgment.
A lot of puppies out here won't like it. And they won't like you, because they won't be able to take advantage of you, or step on you at a 'feed' line. But they will respect you.
And I don't mean respect you in the way of "Hey, look, there goes a Nobel Prize winner." They will respect you in the way it really counts. They'll think twice before they try to mess with you.
And that is really what we are talking about here. Getting through all of what comes with this particular territory without getting hurt, or worse. And maintaining your humanity, your sense of humor, and most important, the good that is inside of you. Good beats 'nice' every time.
Okay, now, got it? Stand up for yourself. Start fighting back. Put yourself first.
And for heaven's sake, comb that hair, if Miss Lucinda Bureaugard Puppy sees it....well, no dance on Friday night for you, puppy!
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