Duck vs. Eagle
The power of choice. Have you ever contemplated Einstein’s theory of relativity? For every action in life—there is a reaction. In science, we analyze—watch—document—not necessarily in that order. We can analyze what happens. If you take a medication for an illness— typically in science the point is over time the illness fades away. However, what we might not see is the impact of that particular drug on the rest of the body. The liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines— might all take damage with certain medications. By the time we realize the impact, that “magic pill” has taken care of one illness to give another. Theory of relativity.
The same goes with our actions. Although, we aren’t always aware of the reaction to the action—it is there.
Growing up with many farm animals, I can tell you the biggest complainer on a farm is a duck. No matter what you do, the ducks will quack in discontent. They are serial complainers!
When I was a young child, my grandfather used to ask me if I was a duck or an eagle. Typically while we were listening to the ducks make a racket.
Eagles soar high in the sky. They have an attitude of positive energy, controlling their atmosphere.
Think about this concept. Duck vs Eagle.
Think about the people you know. The kids you grew up with, now adults.
Those who broke loose—forged their own path—knowing the value of respect—understanding the satisfaction of earning the respect given. Challenging themselves to be better than average— every day. They may fail at the risks they take—but they didn’t quit. Each failure advancing them to new levels, new adventures—increased energy.
If you get up in the morning with the expectation life is going to deliver you a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself.
Your life—each day— is what you make it to be. If you describe your life as “stuck” with an inability to change it—then it is exactly what you made it. Stuck.
All of us have that one person we know who continually repeats the same mantra over and over. Are they trying to convince themself of what they’re stating?
I knew a man who constantly repeated, “I’m not for sale.” Yes, a man. I was shocked and found some humor in it as well. When you have an analyzer brain like mine, it immediately bounces to “what does this mean”? This man lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere. He has been married three times he will admit to, when cornered to do so, with multiple “serious” relationships in between. Now the first thing I thought of was, “Did someone attempt to purchase him causing great strife?” Since we live in a society whereby it’s illegal to sell other human beings, that was out. The women I knew him to migrate to have relatively modest incomes even for a small town, my guess was they weren’t able to purchase extravagant gifts to sway him. That was out too. My conclusion—this was the mantra to make him feel better about the massive amount of failed relationships trailing behind him. None of which were his fault. Of course not. The common denominator is never the source—right?
Ever heard someone state, “I’m stuck here”—and then state the excuses as to why. One can make up all of the excuses in the world. They might even justify the lack of action with ideologies of being a great person—great friend—great parents—great grandparent—title it however you wish. The root remains fear of taking a step forward. In some cases it’s fear of failure. Others it’s branching out on their own when they’ve always had wings to cling to. For some it’s fear of change.
When you are in fear of change—cling to the past—terrified of adventure and have no ability to look within yourself to do the work necessary to be above average. Life begins to quack like a duck.
It’s not easy to take a risk. Sometimes we fail. I’ve failed many times in my life. However—it’s not the critic who counts— not the people who judge from the sidelines— the credit belongs to those of us who have the courage to actually be in the arena—who have the blood, sweat and tears of challenging ourselves—those of us who have failed—who have missed the mark by a smidgen—who in the end are easily judged by the people in fear of the arena. However, when people like us fail—we do so daring great things—knowing we will evaluate—strategize—make necessary changes—and take another attempt until we achieve victory.
There is my life before looking at life this way—and my life after.
Please allow me to digress.
Growing up in small rural America, everyone loves to gossip. The juicier the better. Those who gossip to the greatest degree—have no clue the damage they cause. More so, those who are known to gossip, have no idea the little respect they have.
There are things which became very clear to me after looking at life differently.
The first, to live a life full of adventure without fear of change. I’m going to show up and I’m going to take chances. Bravery will define me. Now, I will warn you, before you follow in my footsteps, doing this means you will get your butt kicked. A lot. More than a lot. Sometimes—daily. There were days I wanted to run back to the small town I grew up in and hide behind anything I could find. Falling—failing—heartbreak are things I can define for you. Every day I wake up and challenge myself to attack the day.
Life is not about winning or losing. Life is about taking chances and opening ourselves up to failure when we can’t control the outcome. I’ve listened to many people state the excuses as to why they wouldn’t climb into the arena. Their parents—children—job—finances—grandchildren—allergies—skillset—the list goes on and on.
Years ago, I was living in a city I had a ton of friends. Corporate America promoted me, which required a relocation to a city I knew no one. One of my friends barked, “you’re stupid to move away from here to a place you don’t know anyone.” I’ll admit, it was scary. Terrifying. But, I was willing to take the chance to grow and learn new things. That promotion led to another promotion and on to another. Today, that same person who judged me, remains right where they have always been. In their own words, “I’m stuck here.” No matter what the excuse was given, it’s still an excuse.
I choose to live my life around courageous people. Those willing to have failure smash them into the ground. Those of you not willing to jump in the arena with me, I don’t care what you think. There are millions of people sitting in cheap seats. Who will never once take a chance. Who have always taken the easy road. I’m not saying life doesn’t give them punches from time to time. However, there is a huge difference between dealing with challenges of life and challenging your life. Those people who make it a full time job to criticize and throw judgement to those of us who wake up every day with a challenge mindset.
To those of you willing to jump in the arena with me—be prepared—you will have critics hurling their negativity at you. They will hide behind “I’m just going to be positive”—do not let their facade fool you. Do not care what they think. Don’t let the hurling from the cheap seats hit you. Let it fall to the ground.
That wholesale adoption of “I don’t care what anyone thinks” is idiotic. We care what people think. However, you should only care what “your people” think. People who are willing to take chances with their own lives. Risk failure. Solicit feedback from those people. People who are thrilled when you succeed. Not those who find fault in it. People who encourage the challenge. Not those finding flaws in it. Not the yes people. The people who challenge you to be better—stronger.
You and only you are able to impact your mindset—as well as your life. Choose every day to be above average….challenge yourself to do something out of the ordinary….ruts are not accepted!
If you choose to jump in, there is a welcome place for you in the arena. You will fail — you will bruise—but you will regroup—you will learn—and you will have those of us around you willing to extend a hand and help you to your feet again. For as many times as it takes.
Decide every day to soar like an eagle instead of quacking like a duck!