I’ve always related to squirrels. Not that I’m cute and fluffy, but I run into traffic (problems) and get knocked to the curb. I am impulsive. Sometimes I get squashed, but I always get back on my feet.
I have a strong memory of me as a small child pretending I was a squirrel in a tree, sitting in the front closet of our house with the door open but a dining room straight-back chair facing toward me.
Trees are my safe space. I can observe the world and avoid hawks swooping around looking for tasty morsels.
When I taught at a business college, a person in the faculty resource center knew that I used the squirrel metaphor to describe my behavior. When I sighed that I was having a particularly tough day, she remarked,
“Maybe you just need a new tree.”