The Donkey and the Pit (or) How to Reach the Top

Recently I was reading Heather Stephens’ inspiring post about overcoming obstacles on her excellent Clever Marketer blog. She used two powerful, real life examples to illustrate how obstacles can become building blocks to fulfilling your dreams. That reminded me of the story I’m going to share with you now…

I don’t know it’s origin, but the wisdom is timeless – especially for those who are determined to overcome adversity and challenges and live life on their own terms.

The Donkey and the Pit

Once upon a time in a lush, green valley there lived a donkey. This donkey had worked hard all his life on a small farm, but he was getting old. He couldn’t carry as much weight as he used to,  his joints ached and he couldn’t walk as fast or work as long either.

There was a dried out water hole on the farm where he lived, which had served as a well for many years. Recently however, the farmer had built a new well, leaving the old one just an empty, soggy pit. Too busy to fill the old well in, the farmer had left it as it was, an open hole in the ground with a puddle at the bottom.

One day, as he was carrying out his daily work, the donkey slipped into the pit. He sank up to his knees in mud – thankfully there wasn’t much water in there, but still he was faced with the problem of climbing out of the vertical shaft. It simply wasn’t possible, and after no one came in response to his calls for help, he resigned himself to his fate. He didn’t have the energy of his youth, and the determination which might have kept him going when he was younger was all but gone.

But the farmer was out looking for him…

“Where’s that old donkey?” he thought.

The farmer heard a faint “heee-hawww” coming from the old well, so he walked over and peered in. The donkey was leaning against the muddy wall of the pit looking forlorn and weary.

“There’s no way!” the farmer said to himself. “It would take to much effort to pull him up, and for an old donkey it’s not worth it. I may as well just buy a new one. I’ll fill in the old well now to save dealing with his body and make sure no one else falls in in future.”

So the farmer gathered his workers and even borrowed some extra hands from his neighbor’s farm to get the the pit filled in and be finished with both the well and the old donkey once and for all. The team set to work, digging earth from nearby and tipping it down the shaft and onto the donkey.

The donkey, who was tired and miserable, didn’t realize what was happening, until a few shovel loads of earth had landed on his back and splashed in the water around him. He looked up, to see the farmer peering down, and shovel after shovel of soil being thrown down from above.

“They’re burying me! He thought. “After all I’ve done for the farmer – my whole life I’ve worked here every day for him and now, when I’m tired and old he wants to forget about me under a pile of earth.”

He started to get really, really, really MAD.

Fumingly MAD.

He’d given everything to the farmer, and this was his final payment. With intense fury coursing through his body, he suddenly felt as alive as ever and driven with a burning determination not to give in and be crushed by this wretched, ungrateful treatment. He had to get out of the well, and he wasn’t planning to go back to work once he did.

As he stood there quaking with anger, he noticed that when his body shook, the soil piling up on his back would fall off and land around his feet. So he kept shaking it off, and then each time the soil hit the ground, he’d step up on top of it. So he kept shaking.

More and more earth kept pouring down for hours and hours, and as the time passed, the donkey stayed absolutely focused and determined. Hours went by, and it was nearly evening when finally the donkey had shaken off so much earth and climbed on top of it that he had nearly reached the well.

Summoning up all his energy, he took a single leap out of the top of the well, and freed himself from the shaft which the farmer had intended to be his grave. Running past the workers, he took the farmer by surprise and with a mighty kick, knocked him clean off his feet.

They never saw the donkey on that farm again. He wandered off up into the hills for a very well earned rest, and to enjoy his newly found freedom for the rest of his days…

What do you do when life is shoveling shit on top of you?

Do you give up? Or like the donkey in this story, do you find a way to turn adversity into advantage, to see the new opportunities which are presenting themselves? Apparent obstacles can provide incredible fuel for our determination and desire to reach our goals and realize our dreams. How do you use the challenges in your life?

I’d love to know your answers to any of these questions, and of course, I’d love it if you’d Tweet, Like and Share this story with your followers and friends. I don’t post many stories on my blog, but if you enjoyed this one, check out the first story I posted entitled How To Move a Mountain.

Don’t be a donkey. But do shake off the shit and keep climbing higher.

To Your Abundance, Freedom and Success…