DO YOU HAVE CRABS?

29 Jan DO YOU HAVE CRABS?

I was once told of a type of crab that can’t be caught – clever enough to get out of any crab trap that is set for it.  Yet, thousands of them are caught every day due to a very human-like quality they possess.

The cage is simple – a wire box with a big hole in the top.  Bait is placed in the bottom of the cage and it’s lowered into the water.  A crab comes along, sees the bait, enters the cage and starts dining. A second crab sees the first one and joins him, then a third.

Eventually all the bait is gone and while the crabs can easily climb out of the cage through the opening in the top they don’t.  Others will even join their friends in the cage.  Attracted by the crowd I suppose. FOMO.

And then if one crab realizes there is nothing keeping them in the cage and tries to leave, the other crabs will do everything they can to stop them.  I’ve read that if these crabs are persistent the other crabs will even tear off their claws to keep them from climbing, They might even be killed.

Like crabs, many humans drift and follow the crowd.  Herd mentality has been programmed into us by academia, corporate culture, social media and society.

When you do choose to escape the trap and start something new, go off on your own, to work on yourself, to grow, to develop, to pursue being better every day, something strange happens.  Sometimes, instead of encouraging you, people become crabby and start trying to drag you back down into the trap.  But they don’t use physical force.  They don’t rip off your arms. They don’t need to – they have far more effective measures like innuendo, doubt, ridicule, scorn, “the way we’ve always done it”, and more.

These are the insidious tactics of some of crabs around us and what they will use to pull off our claws and kill our goals, our dreams, our aspirations. Why would they do that? Many of these people actually love us. Why would they want to hurt us emotionally and kill our hopes and desires for something more?

Well, when you step outside of the status quo, you become like a giant mirror that reflects the reality of life back to them.  They know they should be doing things differently, but they’re afraid and your courage makes their fearfulness more obvious.

Some simply aren’t as courageous as you and they can’t get over the idea of leaving the comfort of their status quo, to venture out on their own, to be challenged, to put their ego on the line.  It’s easy to be caught off guard by their crabby behaviour.

What’s important to realize is that this is not about you at all – don’t let the crabs in your life get in the way of what you know is possible for you and the people you serve.

Be the crab that can’t be caught!