“It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.” – Zig Ziglar.
In a little village, all the animals ganged up against the donkey, concluding that he was to be thrown into a pit—and they did just that. Even there, at the bottom of the pit, they hurled all sorts of insults and dirt at him, loudly declaring that he was no good and could not become useful to the village. This seemed to be their justification for throwing him into the pit to face the predicament of wasting away.
He felt so dejected until one day he decided to do something about his situation.
He thought to himself, “There’s no point in feeling bad about myself. I can choose to still believe the best about myself.” After this positive self-talk, he brightened up, but that didn’t change the fact that he was still in the pit and dirt was still being thrown at him.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind. “I can shake it off and then step on it. I don’t have to stay where life has put me. I can step on my negative situation and come out better.”
For every pile of dirt that was hurled at him, he simply shook it off and stepped on it, rising a little higher each time. Each day, as more dirt was thrown in, he rose higher until he stepped on the last pile of dirt that enabled him to step out of the pit!
The whole village gathered and said, “We thought we had gotten rid of you. What is the secret of your escape?” The donkey replied, “Even though you thought you got rid of me, I didn’t get rid of myself. You thought I was worth nothing, but I know I am worth more than gold. I changed how I perceived myself, and that changed everything.”
The moral of the story is to make the most of whatever life throws at you. Life may seek to bury you with dirt; shake it off and step on it. If life throws lemons at you, make lemonade out of it. Whatever happens, step up, show up, and shatter the setup that was designed to stun you and shackle your destiny.
