OK, that's pretty gross, right? But my little chihuahua go so stressed out when a big dog barked next to her ear (it's one of our dogs that she has lived with for years), that her eye actually popped out of its socket. Eewwww! It was awful. She couldn't close her eyelids over the eye, and she looked a bit like robo-dog. Poor baby!

My daughter and I were home when it happened (thank goodness) and we called the vet, after hours. He rushed to the animal hospital and did the necessary surgery to restore her eye to normal. Wow. Amazing stuff.

So, you may wondering right about now what I learned when my dog's eye popped out. I learned that things are not always as bad as they look, there is always a solution, and there are people who will help you if you know who to ask.

My dog's eye looked pretty bad to me. But to the experienced vet, who had seen it all before, it wasn't that bad at all. He had it under control in minutes. Sometimes it's our limited perspective that doesn't allow us to see that things are really not as bad as they seem. If we can find someone who has had a similar experience and, thus, a different perspective, we can learn how to handle even the most difficult situation.

In business, seeking out a mentor who has "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt" is one sure-fire way to gain perspective in a hurry. If you don't have the experience on your side, be sure you find someone who does and ask them what to do.

The next thing I learned is that there is always a solution. Always. It may not always be one that you like. But there is a solution. If my daughter and I had not believed there was something that could be done for our chihuahua, we might have been paralyzed by inaction -- which would have been disastrous. But we took action, and did it quickly. No long drawn out discussions. No weighing all the possible alternatives. We just got into the car and took the dog to the vet.

Consider what you are doing in your business and work life right now. Are you paralyzed by inaction because you aren't sure there is a solution? Trust me, there is. And it's easier than you might think. You can hem and haw and go back and forth and stall and stew all you want, if you want to stay exactly where you are. But if you were in a crisis situation, you would just hop in the car and go. I suggest you do that in your work life because, really, aren't you in a crisis situation if you hate to go to work every day, or you are buried in debt, or you have no time for your family? That is a crisis, in my book.

Third, I learned that there is always someone who is willing to help. You just need to know who to ask. Don't think that you are the first person who longed for a better life, more time with family, more money to burn on whatever you want. You are not the first. Nor will you be the last. So find someone who is willing to help you get where you want to be in your financial life. And when you've "made it," turn around and give that same assistance to the next person down the line. How cool would that be?

So, the three things I learned the day my dog's eye popped: Nothing is really as bad as it seems, there is a solution to your problem, and there is someone willing to help if you just ask.