The Farmer and The Priest

Years ago, I had a very peculiar conversation with an Uber driver that led to him telling me a story that has stuck with me as time went on. My storytelling abilities might fail to do it justice, but that story went something like this:

A priest and his apprentice were traveling and in search of shelter. They happened upon a small dairy farm where its owner lived with his family. The family had one cow that they got milk and butter from to sell in the town market, and this cow was their sole source of income. The family welcomed the travelers into their home with open arms, fed them, and gave them a place to spend the night. In the middle of the night, the priest woke his apprentice up and took him out to the field, where he instructed the apprentice to aid him in leading the cow away from the farm and pushing it over a ledge. The apprentice was appalled at first, but begrudgingly agreed. They left that same night and came back to the farm one year later. During that year, the farm had grown immensely. There were now several crops growing, a chicken coop, and a sheep shed. The farm was busy with tourists, and they had a local store where they now sold a variety of products. The family's adversity had forced them to diversify, adapt, and discover new sources of income. They were much wealthier and happier than they had ever been before.

As I was getting ready to graduate from school, this story came back to me, and I began to think about it more and more. This story prompted me to contemplate how individuals often excel when faced with impossible situations. At first, it appeared to me that it was only when people have nothing left to lose that they could tap into their full potential. Eventually, I came to understand that what was stopping the farmer from achieving greatness was comfort, and therefore it was only through discomfort that he was able to achieve significant growth. Accepting that to be the case, I was left with two choices:

1. Be the Farmer: Remain in my comfort zone until an external situation forces my hand towards the realm of discomfort.
2. Be my own Priest: Intentionally place myself in uncomfortable situations in order to stimulate my own self-growth.

A little over a year ago, I decided I wanted to be the latter and made a choice to turn down a “safe” opportunity and move to another city with no clear plan set in place. And after a brief period of uncertainty and a little perseverance, I can honestly say that this past year has been, by far, the most important year in my life when it comes to both personal and professional growth. I haven’t fully accomplished everything I wanted yet, but I’m enjoying the path I’m on, grateful for the people who offered me guidance through this experience, and looking forward to what lies ahead. As I think back on this last year, it seems the choice I made was obvious in retrospect, but as they say hindsight is 20/20, and it certainly didn’t seem like that was the case back then. Even now, finding myself in a more comfortable spot than I was a few months ago, I naturally hesitate to do things that are “hard” now, but I know will ultimately benefit me in the long run. So as this year progresses, I want to make sure to maintain this mentality and constantly challenge myself in some way, even if small, and I want to invite you all to do the same. Trying something new, finally getting to do that one thing you never got around to doing, changing something about your daily routine. While these are all things that seem simple in principle, in practice, these can have life-altering outcomes. Do something that makes you uncomfortable. Whatever this means to you, I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of it, even if it's not what you initially thought it would be…