A rescue dog

I'm not really a dog person but when someone says this is a rescue dog, I know what they mean.

I know that if a door slams and the dog goes nuts, it's not about the door.

I know that the dog has history and the best thing to do is make it feel safe again. I don't go on about how harmless the door is. Instead I gently soothe the dog with kindness and compassion.

So here's the thing. We're all a little bit rescue dog.

Sometimes something will happen - a sound, an image, an interaction - and we'll experience distress that may be disproportionate to the situation.

But it's not about the situation, like it wasn't about the door. It's about our history. And like the rescue dog, we don't need to be told how harmless the situation is, we just need kindness and compassion to feel safe again.