Feeling Down? Look to the Tree Tops & Stop Being a Turtle! Let Me Explain... by Laurie Balles Simpson

I am 5 foot, 2 inches tall and most days I feel like I'm 10 feet tall. That was not the case a couple weeks ago. I felt small, weak and tired. There was no crisis or tragedy. Life was just happening. At a moment of pure unease with my state, a story came to me. It is the story of the giraffe and turtle and it has many versions. This is what I took from it…

The giraffe survives on vegetation from the tree tops, its view is vast, its power is in its vision and agility. The turtle thrives on the ground, views are limited, maneuvering in the brush from point to point. Both surviving, but differently.

With encouragement from the turtle to come down and join him, the giraffe's vision becomes limited, its long neck bent down is suffocating as it roams in the turtle's reality. The giraffe will not survive down there.

It was then that I popped my head up out of the grass, took a long deep breath, said goodbye to the turtles and walked my 5-foot, 2-inch self out into the clearing.

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