Shake It Off And Take A Step Up: The Donkey Story

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Donkey Story. shake it off and step up — Donkey. Photo By: Canva

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Shake it off and take a step up! The donkey story is one of the many short stories I love. It is a poignant fable of life’s adversities and how it can make or break us, depending on how we choose to react. Will you be a victim or survivor? Will you choose to make lemonade out of the lemons thrown at you or will you just sit and allow the lemons to hit and injure you? If you know the donkey story, I hope you read my retelling of it and be inspired yet again. If you don’t know the donkey story, you are welcome to dig in!

The Donkey Story

One day, a farmer’s donkey fell into an abandoned well. It was very much terrified, and piteously cried out. The farmer, old and weary, was beside himself with worry as he listened to the poor donkey wail. For hours, the misery of both donkey and farmer dragged; the donkey kept wailing and the farmer kept stressing.

donkey story. shake it off and step up. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade — Lemonade from Lemons

Alas the farmer made a decision to put himself and his poor donkey out of their miserable situation. He reasoned with himself, “I am old and weary and cannot possibly retrieve this donkey. And the donkey is old and not of much use anymore. This well is a danger to my farm, I might as well fill it up to prevent future losses.”

And so the farmer decided to kill two birds with a stone; bury the donkey alive to end the despair, and also fill the well to prevent any other farm animals falling victim to it.

People May Fail You But You Don’t Have To Fail Yourself

Satisfied with his decision, the farmer invited his neighbors to help him accomplish the task. They all grabbed shovels and began to dig and shovel dirt into the well. When it dawned on the donkey that the farmer and his friends were burying it alive, it was sad indeed. It cried horribly, its old tired heart was very much broken. For years and years it had faithfully served the farmer, and could not believe how the farmer could possible repay it with such wickedness.

The Starfish Story – Making A Difference

“I have worked for you all of my life, everyday, from dawn to dusk. I guarded your fields and warded off coyotes, dogs and other predators. Your kids made me their playmate, I let them pet me, gave them rides and prepared them for horseback rides. I plowed your fields and carried loads of hay and equipment for you. This is how you repay me in my old age? How disappointing!” The donkey cried painfully and loudly.

The farmer and his neighbors shoveled on despite the donkey’s horrendous cries. But then something happened that surprised them; the donkey suddenly stopped crying. A few shovel loads later, the farmer peered into the well and was astonished at what he saw. The donkey was doing something incredible, with each shovel of dirt that hit the back of the donkey, it shook it off and took a step up.

Shake It Off And Take A Step Up – Don’t Let Adversity Define You

The farmer and his neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the donkey, and the donkey in turn continued to shake it off and used the dirt on the well’s floor as leverage to keep taking steps up. The people kept shoveling and the donkey kept shaking off and stepping up. This continued for as long as it took to fill the well.

To the amazement of the farmer and his friends, the donkey eventually stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off.

The Donkey Story Moral – Shake It Off And Step Up

There will always be a hurdle to cross, some adversity in life to overcome. We all face a myriad of life challenges, personal finances, career advancement, health issues, family drama, identity crisis, relationships, parenting politics, and so on. At times it may feel like life has become a string of trouble after trouble, because as soon as one problem is resolved, another crops up. But you cannot give up, in fact you will be doing yourself a great disservice by not doing all you can, to fight to overcome.

If you live your life waiting for a fairytale, you may end up very disappointed and bitter, because unless to go digging, you may never find your fairytale, it will not come knocking. The people you expect to help you may be unwilling or unable; you may go looking for help and get advice instead.

I’d like to challenge you to treat every setback as the dirt in the back of a donkey. Do all you can to work to shake it off and use the lessons and fortitude you build from those experiences to take a step up and level up. Because life is struggle and that struggle builds our character.

And when you put in the work to shake the debris off and take steps up, you will find yourself happily trotting away into the sunset, free and wiser.

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