Once upon a time, a farmer found an eagle egg.
Concerned for it, he thought the best thing to do would be to take the egg to the farm.
He placed the egg beneath one of his hens.
Two weeks went by and all the eggs hatched.
Since the new-born eagle was among chickens, it was raised and treated exactly like a chicken.
In time, the eagle ended up believing it was nothing more than a chicken.
It did what its siblings did, i.e. pecked for worms, scrabbled for grains, learned to fly for just a few feet, and took shelter from the rain.
Years went by and one day, what was now a grown-up eagle did something it had never done before, it looked up towards the sky.
Suddenly it saw a magnificent creature fly high in the sky.
“What’s that?”, the eagle asked its chicken family.
“That’s an eagle! The king of the sky; the sky is its kingdom. We are just chicken and we belong to the earth”, the chicken family replied unanimously.
The eagle, who had lived most of its life as a chicken, started craving for more.
It felt that it was meant for much more than just pecking for worms and flying for only a few feet.
The eagle faced a dilemma:
It had to decide whether to carry on living as it had always done, i.e. like a chicken or to do whatever it took to fly like the king of the sky.
The fear of wasting the remainder of its life without living up to its full potential was far greater than the fear of the change it had to make.
And so it decided to spread its wings and take off.
The eagle who had lived like a chicken was now soaring high in the sky, in its kingdom, the place where it belonged.
Since that moment its life was no longer the same.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I really believe that all of us were born as an eagle, but unfortunately, along our journey most people choose to live life like a chicken, failing to reach their full potential.
As human beings we tend to follow what other people do, we follow the crowd, we want to walk the beaten path, without realizing that there is much more we are meant for.
Let’s face it, from a young age our parents, society, and the environment we grew up in brainwash us into going to school, going to college, finding a career, and staying in it till we retire.
By following this path most people end up doing something they don't truly love, and they do it just to earn a salary at the end of the month and to please someone else.
What a tragedy! We have just one life, and most of us realize it when it’s too late.
I still remember when I became aware of it.
I also walked the common path, I went to school, I went to University and I found a job.
But I was not fulfilled, I was not pursuing my dreams.
I knew deep within myself that I deserved much more than working in a traditional 9 to 5 job, building someone else’s dreams while I was neglecting my own ones.
I grew up with the misbelief that finding a permanent traditional job and keeping it till the end of my days was the best option, even if it meant sacrificing my dreams.
Fortunately, I woke up and, realizing that I have only one shot in life, I said to myself:
“It's time I worked to create the life I really want, It’s high time I soared high in the sky because it is where I am supposed to be”.
The fear of being stuck in a job that didn’t make me feel fulfilled and that sucked all my time preventing me from spending memorable time with the people I love was far greater than the fear of taking a new path.
I decided to invest in myself and learn how to market online, to be able to work from anywhere in the world, and to sell something I truly trust and love.
I decided to take the reins of my life and work to create a better future for myself and the people I love.
“Why keep living like a chicken, when I know I am an eagle?” I wondered.
My questions for you now are:
“What’s holding you back from living to your full potential”?
“Will you keep living as a chicken for the rest of your life and feel miserable because you know that you are wasting the only life you have or will you do whatever it takes to conquer the place where you are meant to be”?
Making a change can be really painful - most of us have lived in the comfort zone neglecting the inner power everyone has within themselves - anyway it’s worth doing.
Be brave, raise your head, spread your wings, take off and be the creator of your unique life.
Remember: be careful who you surround yourself with!
“If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly”. -Steve Maraboli
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