Recently, I was thinking about how I respond to stress. Conclusion: I’m a turtle.
Let me explain.
I love animals and analogies, so let’s do this. You know how much I enjoy the DoodleBuddy App on my iPad, so I thought I’d tell this story with pictures.
See, normally, I’m like this:
Moving slowly – cautiously – evaluating every move. The analogy can be stretched further if you want to examine my tough shell/soft, gooey center, but I think that I mostly wear my feelings on my sleeve. I’m not quite as unreadable as Mr Tortoise.
I go about my business at a steady pace. However, as soon as the whiff of failure is in the air, I fold up into my shell, paralyzed.
The thought of failing is scary, and I’m never sure what to do. I don’t want to make it worse, but I get so trapped in my head that I’m not sure I can do anything else. Problems seem huge from this perspective. Everything is insurmountable. It’s better to just stay in my shell and rock myself until the trouble passes.
But what does this accomplish? Not much. I get through things unscathed because I let them happen as they will – without my intervention.
It may be difficult, but I need to roll over and get back to things; to plod through “failures” (which may not actually be failures after all). If a situation actually is trending toward disaster, my action can stem the bleeding or better ensure that the outcome is in my favor.
I need to be a brave turtle. A braver turtle.
I’ll likely never be a hare, but they lose races anyway.