This ant is still crawling

So after more closely looking at our syllabus I realized I wrote my response for the Happiness Project Chapter 8 a couple weeks ago (Life doesn’t get better than this). This post will not be redundant. At the bottom of page 208 and continuing on 209 a quote from Saint Bernard reminded me of a lesson I learned a long time ago, You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.

When I was a young dude, still in the middle years of high-school, I got in a really heated argument with my parents. They threatened to “kick me out” (they never really would’ve) while I was so arrogant I volunteered to leave, SMH.

I left my house in rage and went straight to the beach. I sat on the warm sand for an hour or so, I can’t remember how long exactly. But what I can remember exactly was what I was doing. I saw a small black ant traversing the monstrous hills of sand and out of boredom I would push a small mound over burying the ant. With my eyes fixed on the spot where the ant was last seen, a minute later a few grains of sand would move and the ant would come crawling out. I repeated this several times.

It taught me that an ant—something so small, so meaningless, and so brainless—will fight through a lot for another chance to live, a natural instinct. The ant continued crawling to God knows where and as for me I am still crawling as well.

I found “The Last Lecture” to be a great read and had a lot of lessons in just a handful of pages. Complaining does not work as a strategy. I like this quote because recently I have found myself complaining a lot. “I’m so busy. I’m so stressed. This summer blows.” None of these thoughts have improved my stress levels or reduce the amount of work I need to complete. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals.

The “Show Gratitude” chapter was very concise and I noted the quote that stood out to me, go out and do for others what somebody did for you. This quote made me think of the different teachers, coaches, friends, and family members that have taught me something of great value and to whom I should pass these lessons onto.