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My female owner has been grouchy over the past few days. She didn’t really think so, but Therapist Fren pointed out to her that although she said that she was ok, her tone over the phone (they spoke for more than an hour) was down and edgy. My female owner didn’t really think it was PMS… until Therapist Fren reminded her that PMS really stood for pre-present-post menstrual syndrome.

Reflecting back, my female owner had to admit that she had been more complaining than usual this week. Hmmm… Small things annoyed her. Past issues irritated her. Innocuous social contact made her withdraw even more into her shell (she’s really the mother of all turtles). Only interactions with familiar and trusted few soothed her nerves.

Ever since my female owner started on her second externship, her self-confidence grew. This was largely due to her supervisor who explicitly expressed her confidence in my female owner and tirelessly drew out examples of things she did well in. One thing she told my female owner to do was to “trust your instincts” because she had seen how my female owner’s instincts had helped direct her therapeutic decisions which then translated into “light bulb” moments for her clients.

My female owner had always given people the benefit of the doubt (sometimes unwisely) and she hardly trusted her instincts because she felt that she could be wrong. This explains why she has always been naïve and gullible. (Even Functional Fren, a trusted ally, plays tricks on her and my female owner is none the wiser… until he confesses. Because my female owner knows he means no harm, she doesn’t take his pranks to heart). But since that talk, my female owner made more effort to observe and read people and sometimes, she doesn’t like what she reads. And she ends up feeling bad for reading negative things in people. You know, it’s like passing judgements on people. “This person cannot be trusted”. “What’s wrong with him?? So old already still like that”. You get the drift.

Maybe that’s why she has been feeling grouchy.