Meet Lydia Wood

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lydia Wood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Lydia, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I didn’t! I simply did it all scared, did my best, and let the results speak for themselves.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I founded America’s first (yes, first!) PTSD Service Dog organization built just for abuse Survivors, and I also own a business here in Indianapolis training pets. For the Service Dogs, a lot of people are familiar with the concept for Veterans, but we truly are the first in the nation to center around a different demographic and their needs. When I started it, I actually thought a similar organization must of existed, and I don’t think I understood what a big deal it would end up being. Our next class is going to feature 3 dogs, and it’s so exciting to see how much we’ve grown and how many people want to help now.

On my business side (I don’t get paid for my work at the organization), I’ve also started adopting out trained dogs that have all the early training as a Service Dog – because I just friggin enjoy it so much! I hope to place many dogs with local families, and send them off with the best training and conditioning to live their best lives.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The skill of timing, the quality of level-headedness, and the will to see the thing through. Advice to learn these? To just get your feet wet and learn the work. Let the work you’re doing change you into the person that needs to finish it. You don’t have to know the steps, but you never will if you don’t start.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

I feel that everything is growing so fast, that I struggle to keep up. I’m really hoping that I can adopt out more trained dogs through my for-profit business, because my business is what allows me to run my organization for no cost – right now so many people want to hire me to train their dogs, I sometimes feel so overwhelmed I just end up staring at a wall. It’s great to be busy, but I want to enjoy more of my off time too =)

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