Don’t become this frog…
The story is about a frog who is sitting comfortably inside a saucepan. A scientist wants to know what the frog dog if they increased the temperature of the pan. The scientist increases the temperature of the saucepan very slowly, so the frog hardly notices.
Because the increase is so slow, The frog puts up with incremental change after incremental change, rather than realising early on that something is wrong. At some point, the frog does notice the water is too hot and wants to jump out, but it’s too late. She’s exhausted from the heat, also without noticing. You can only imagine what happened in the end.
It’s a gruesome story but there is certainly some truth in it. This experience would naturally be linked to a person, but I think it also applies to places. Places need to change and adapt to new circumstances, and in a fast-changing world, it is a good time to help places achieve that.
If only she decided to go out before, if only she accepted that the situation was bad for her and decided to change things before…
The Oak and the Reed
Who do you want to be? The Oak or the Reed?
The oak is known for its majesty, its robustness, its sturdiness whereas the reed is known for its fragility, its vulnerability, its flexibility. If you only read that last sentence, I guess you prefer becoming an oak rather than a reed. But, if someone applies pressure on you, if you receive a negative strength from your environment, what will happen?
On one side, the oak will resist again and again and will eventually break at the end. On another side, the reed will bend before the storm, it will accept this pressure and follow the flow to stay in life and to continue growing up. This is a kind of resilience. After the storm, the good weather will be coming. If you resist and you break, you will never see the coming sun. So, resistance or resilience? the oak or the reed?
An illustration about my own life
While I’m writing down this article, I’m living my first experience outside my own country. I’m 25.
I have been a long time an oak in front of the English language. I said, “I will never talk in English ». Nevertheless, one day I understood that I won’t be able to travel, to meet different people, to get my dream job, to discover how the world is offering a wealth of opportunities. Today, I have the feeling to losing a lot of time without this opportunity to open my mind and to learn from other cultures.
So, I aim to become a reed. I recognize my weaknesses and I work on it. I try to improve myself; I go out my comfort zone and I know I will never be the best, but I do my best to understand my failing, my fear to talk in English and to change all of that.
I jumped before the water boils, and I stopped to resist facing the wind. This is my little resilience; this is a little step but it’s mine and I’m proud of it.
And you, have you changed from an oak to a reed one day in your life?