The Obstacles Of Life: The Story Of The Carrot, The Egg And The Coffee

“ Once upon a time there was the daughter of an old farmer who constantly complained about her life and how difficult it was to go on. She was tired of fighting and did not want anything; when she solved a problem, another one immediately appeared  and this made her resign and she felt exhausted.

The farmer asked his daughter to come over to the hut kitchen and sit down. Then, he  filled three vessels with water and put them on the fire. When the water began to boil, he placed a carrot in one container, an egg in another and a few coffee beans in the last. She let them boil without saying a word while her daughter waited impatiently without understanding what her father was doing. After twenty minutes, the father put out the fire. He took the carrot and put it in a cup. He took the egg and put it on a plate. Finally, he poured the coffee.

She looked at her daughter and said to her: ” What do you see?”. “A carrot, an egg and some coffee,” was his reply. He brought her over and asked her to touch the carrot. She did and noticed that it was soft. Then he asked her to take the egg and break it. She removed the shell and saw that the egg was hard. Then he asked her to try the coffee. She smiled at the pleasure of smelling his sweet aroma. The daughter humbly asked, ” What does this mean, Dad?”

He explained that  the three objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. However, each had reacted differently. The carrot was strong and hard, but after being in the boiling water, it became weak, easy to break. The egg was fragile, its thin shell protected a liquid interior, but after being in boiling water, its interior hardened. The coffee, however, was unique: after being in the boiling water, it had changed the water itself.

“Which are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity comes at your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot that looks strong, but then when adversity and pain comes, it becomes weak and loses its strength? Are you an egg, which at first has a malleable heart and a fluid spirit, but after a death, separation or goodbye, it becomes hard and stiff? Outside it looks the same, but how has it transformed inside? Or are you like coffee? Coffee changes the water, the element that causes him pain. When the water reaches the boiling point, the coffee releases its best flavor. If you are like coffee beans, when things go wrong, you will react better and allow the world around you to improve. “

And you, which of these three elements are you?

Being an egg or a carrot only penalizes yourself, so get up and move forward! Don’t stop. Fight. Because when you don’t force yourself, today will become tomorrow without you realizing it. Be strong and have confidence in yourself. Learn to master adversity.

Don’t forget your destiny and be confident

To keep the motivation to get what we want alive, it is very important that that goal always accompanies us. Remember how much it is worth to you: 

Reorganize your life strategy

When something doesn’t go as we hoped, we need to put the puzzle back together, as it has been undone. Don’t think that everything has to be linear in life. By definition, this will ask us for changes, nothing is static. Be flexible, the balance does not exist, the demands of life change and things remain as they are for a short time. 

Face the obstacles: balance your thoughts

A failure is just that, one. And, moreover, it is provisional. It may take you back, but when it does, turn this failure into an opportunity by remembering that successes are best friends with each other: recap and take stock of how you have overcome difficulties, these are your successes. Don’t lose sight of them!

Sometimes the barriers are self-imposed, sometimes they consist in thinking about whether we are doing right or wrong, if we will hurt ourselves or not, and in the habit of repeating negative thoughts like the farmer’s daughter.

Be warriors and eliminate from your path the difficulties that stand between you and your goals. Sometimes it is other people or the same circumstances,  but usually we ourselves put a spoke in the wheel. 

Bring out the difficulties

Accept them, allow them to appear and let things take their course. Be like the Phoenix and rise gloriously, remembering the difficulties you went through to start a new life, a new path.

Managing difficulties and having faith in ourselves is not easy, but it is worth reflecting and thinking about how we parry the blows that life gives us, every obstacle that creates difficulties for us to reach the goal.

They say that triumph arises from the ashes of error and that,  in the face of adversity,  we must always keep a light to guide us and to show us the way. However, “it is our light and not our darkness that intimidates us.”

Image courtesy of Delnara Prusakova