Life is tough. It is a simple yet profound fact we here but never come to truly understand until we are taught some valuable lessons. One granddaughter was given some advice early on by her grandmother, and it is one that deserves to be repeated.
The story goes that a woman went to visit her grandmother, stressed and frustrated by the way her life has unfolded. Many of us understand being overwhelmed by work and other obligations, but this woman was at the end of her rope. She wasn’t sure whether she could go on for much longer and tells her grandmother this. Without a word, the old woman goes to the kitchen and fills up three pots of water before placing them on the stove.
Once the water begins to boil, she places a few carrots in one, some eggs in the second and in the third, some ground coffee beans. After around 20 minutes, she asks her granddaughter what she sees. She responds with the obvious. “Carrots, eggs and coffee.”
Her grandmother then instructs her to feel the softened carrots, crack one of the eggs and to drink some of the freshly brewed coffee. The woman does as she’s told and after she’s finished, turns to her grandmother and asks what it all means. Her grandmother’s response is one that stayed in the woman’s heart. Her grandmother explained that each ingredient had just faced some adversity. The carrots went in strong and unrelenting, but after being exposed to the boiling water, came out hard and weak. The eggs had been fragile, with a tough exterior protecting the liquid interior. The boiling water had now left them hard inside. The coffee, however, was unique. It entered the boiling water and and changed the water itself.
She then asked her granddaughter, “Which one are you?”
This story forces us to assess how we respond to hardship. Do we let it break us down and make us soft and weak? Do we let it harden us on the inside until we are bitter and unable to feel or want to change? Or do we allow adversity to help shape us and in turn, change the adversity, transforming it from a tragedy or struggle into a pedestal that will lead us to an elevated level of self we have never before experienced?
The choice is ours.