One beautiful day a farmer was walking along a path with his donkey. His donkey fell into an old, abandoned well. The farmer didn’t know what to do. He could see the donkey way down at the bottom and the poor animal cried out with fear. The farmer reasoned that there was no way to get the donkey out of the well and even so, the animal must have sustained some injuries. Not to mention that the old well should have been covered a long time ago. So the farmer decided the only thing to do was bury the donkey there in the well. He got a shovel and began to heap dirt down into the well. The donkey cried out in fear. The farmer got others to help him and the shovels of dirt continued to close in on the donkey.
The donkey was fearful, but each time a pile of dirt would hit his back, he would shake it off. He continued to shake off the dirt and then he began to step up onto each small pile. He continued to shake it off and then step up over and over again until, to everyone’s surprise, the donkey was able to step out of the well and trot happily away.
There are times when life will throw dirt your way. But don’t give up. Shake It Off and Step Up! Sometimes the very things that seemingly will bring us to our end, are the very things that we can use to our advantage to start a new beginning.
I have to be honest with you there are many variations of this story floating around. Some versions end with the donkey delivering a round house kick to the farmer or other forms of revenge before trotting away (some are quite funny). But here’s my take on it: When you get out of a bad situation, don’t hang around, don’t ask why, and don’t waste time on revenge-it keeps you stuck in the same place. Be grateful for a second chance, move on, and live your life.
Happy Monday, Ladies.