My littlest dog, Rambo (small but mighty) has an issue. He is scared of my son.
Now my son is not to be feared, let’s be quite clear about that! My son loves animals. He’s been around them his entire life. And animals love him.
Except Rambo.
It’s problematic but we work around it and keep trying. He has what seems like an irrational fear to us, but in his little mind, it’s a real fear. We have no idea the basis of that fear. I suspect that my son, perhaps, reminds Rambo of either the surgeon or the physical therapist that rehabilitated him when his patella blew out as a puppy, long before we got him.
We’ve made some progress but not much in the years that Rambo has been a member of the family. He is willing to request and take cookies from my son, as long as I’m positioned between them. He will sit on the couch with him if we are ALL on the couch. I can hand Rambo to my son and although it certainly isn’t Rambo’s favorite thing to do, he tolerates it. He knows he’ll get a cookie after I imagine so he exercises patience versus panic.
When I’m sitting still—working at my desk, for example—Rambo is glued to my side. But the moment I start moving around the house, cooking dinner for example, he scuttles into my bedroom and positions himself under the bed.
Sometimes he decides it’s the perfect time to take a nap and falls blissfully and soundly asleep, taking full advantage of the safety of his ‘den’ under the bed.
But often he decides that he doesn’t really want to be in there by himself, so he barks.
And barks.
And barks.
Continuously.
Now this small but mighty dog has a bark that is reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. (I bet you just shivered as you read that). You see, Rambo is all of 6 ½ pounds and the sound that he emits is more of a shriek than a bark. It’s annoying. It’s really annoying. And he doesn’t stop.
The conversation I have with him every single time goes like this…
Dude! If you don’t want to be in here by yourself, why are you choosing to stay under the bed! The solution is really easy. Come out!
But he’s too afraid to venture out of my bedroom by himself lest my son be moving around and about the house so in comes Mommy Courage to the rescue! And once he knows I’m there, he pops right out from under the bed and follows me out of my bedroom with great relief. (It’s great relief for us too as the barking stops.)
The lesson here is this: If you don’t like where you are or what you’re doing or what you’re experiencing in life, do something different! That may sound hard, and it may actually be hard, but what’s the cost of choosing to stay in a situation that you don’t enjoy or can no longer tolerate?
Perhaps Einstein said it best: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Rambo isn’t insane. He just afraid and he doesn’t yet have the confidence to leave the zone of safety under my bed. At least not by himself. Which is why Mommy Courage steps in to help!
Are you stuck somewhere in your life?
Do you want things to change, but feel unsure—or unwilling—to venture out on your own?
That’s exactly what my Clarity Sequence™ is designed for.
It’s not about forcing change or pushing past fear. It’s about being supported as you navigate what’s next. Think of it as your own version of Mommy Courage—helping you access the answers you already have inside you, so you can stop barking and start moving toward what you actually want.
