Forget The Tortoise and the Hare- I have a much better story than Aesop ever told! Last night when I got to my parent's house for Biggest Loser Night, my pops and Crys had Bert, the smaller of our two big tortoises, in the front yard to play. He was roaming around the yard, trampling on the newly planted flower garden when we looked away for 2 seconds and eating whatever grass looked appealing to him. Basically he was having a fabulous time! If you don't have a tortoise you probably don't know how incredibly stubborn they are but let me tell you, once they know what they want- their minds are made up! Bertie kept trying to walk in dangerous places in our side yard and despite us yelling at him to stop, he kept going strong. To keep him from getting lodged between a tree and our fence, me and Crys stood side by side and blocked his way. We couldn't possibly have made a lesser impact on him if we tried! He grunted, and charged his way through. We had to move out of his way so that we wouldn't get pushed over and then pick him up and move him to a safer place. This was no easy task- he weighs about 90 pounds now and he's fast so the second I'd put him down, he'd go right back to where we took him from. He's also incredibly strong and he bruised my side because I wasn't putting him down fast enough and he wanted to be by the tree! It was incredibly painful as he was clawing at me but I am so grateful he didn't break the skin!
As I was pointlessly trying to block Bert's way for the upteenth time and hoping he would break this cycle on his own it dawned on me- we all need to be more like tortoises. So many times I might want something but a little obstacle pops up and I immediately make a new plan. I decide that it wasn't meant to be or I come up with some equally lame rationalization but the truth is, maybe I should have tried harder. I need to charge through with the fierce and relentless passion that comes naturally to my tortoises. Can you even imagine what a different life we would lead if we truly didn't let anything deter us from what we want? It's absolutley amazing the life lessons we learn from our pets.
As I was pointlessly trying to block Bert's way for the upteenth time and hoping he would break this cycle on his own it dawned on me- we all need to be more like tortoises. So many times I might want something but a little obstacle pops up and I immediately make a new plan. I decide that it wasn't meant to be or I come up with some equally lame rationalization but the truth is, maybe I should have tried harder. I need to charge through with the fierce and relentless passion that comes naturally to my tortoises. Can you even imagine what a different life we would lead if we truly didn't let anything deter us from what we want? It's absolutley amazing the life lessons we learn from our pets.
This is NOT Bert but me and Ernie took this last week and so I had to share :)
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