Top 30 Inspirational Stories to Push You Forward in Life
Inspirational Stories to Push You Forward!!
Feel like your life is upside down? Are you so worn out by the struggles you are facing? Want to give up and end this cycle?
No, please just don’t lose hope and give up! There’s a lot more we got to experience in this unpredictable ride.
Let’s keep going on this hell of a ride and have some stories to share with the world!!
Well, these top 30 inspirational stories will help you to not back down in your beautiful journey.
Just check them out! You can surely relate to these characters and learn life lessons from their stories and how they cherished their struggles and fought them till the end.
Quick Overview
| Rank | Story |
| 1. | Three Feet From Gold |
| 2. | Rock, Pebbles, and Sand |
| 3. | The Elephant Rope |
| 4. | A Wise Man’s Jokes |
| 5. | It’s Never Too Late |
| 6. | The Boulder and the Gold |
| 7. | Dirty Money |
| 8. | The Ultimate Test |
| 9. | What A Waste |
| 10. | Breathing With No Air |
| 11. | Sweet Dreams |
| 12. | Team Work |
| 13. | Frogs For Dinner |
| 14. | Will You Mary Me |
| 15. | Wait…What? |
| 16. | Toothpaste Recant |
| 17. | Just Be |
| 18. | The Weight of the World |
| 19. | Embrace Your Struggles |
| 20. | Seeking Happiness |
| 21. | There Was Once A Boy… |
| 22. | A Pound is a Pound |
| 23. | Jumping Frogs |
| 24. | The Ultimate Gift |
| 25. | Angry Nails |
| 26. | Walking on Water |
| 27. | It’s Not That Complicated |
| 28. | Don’t Hold Back |
| 29. | The Chef’s Daughter |
| 30. | The Cleaning Turtles |
1. Three Feet From Gold
During the gold rush days in the 19th century, a man named R.U. Darby was too passionate about discovering the gold and becoming madrich.
So, Darby headed to Colorado to fulfill his dreams and began mining. A month passed, Darby found ore, so his hopes began to rise.
Then, he mined deeper and deeper. But, with all his hard and tiresome effort, he didn’t discover a gold vein.
Disappointed with that, Darby gave up. Sooner, he sold the machinery to a junkyard man at a low price.
The junkyard man called the mining engineer to know where the gold vein actually was.
Later, the junkyard man dug three feet far from just where Darby left mining and became wealthy.
Moral: We must be consistent and never give up on our dreams till we get them, no matter how hard the situation is.
2. Rock, Pebbles, and Sand
Once a university professor brought some items and an empty jar into the classroom. The students got excited. Then, the professor filled the jar with rocks. And asked his students if the jar was full or not?
The students answered, “Yes, the jar is full.”
After that, he filled the jar with small pebbles and shook the jar. The pebbles went into the open spaces between the rocks. Then, the professor asked the same question.
To which the students replied, “Indeed, the jar is full.”
Later, the professor poured some sands into the jar. The sand went into the left spaces of the jar. Again, the professor repeated the same question. To which the students replied, ” Yes, the jar is full.”
Then, the professor took a deep breath and said that this jar signifies your life. Well, the rocks symbolize the most important things in your life, such as family, health, and relationships.
And, the pebbles symbolize the rest things that matter in your life, such as work school. Whereas the sand signifies the small things and material possessions.
If you put sand in the jar at first, then there would be no space left for the rock and pebbles.
Moral : One must always value and put first their most significant things in life such as family, health, and relationships to lead a happy and peaceful life.
3. The Elephant Rope
While walking through an elephant camp, a man discovered that the elephants weren’t tied with any stakes, but only with small ropes.
He thought about why the elephants weren’t trying to break free from the camp when they can easily escape by pulling the rope with their strength.
So, the curious man went to the trainer and asked him why the elephants weren’t trying to run away in that case.
The trainer replied, ” From their young ages, we tied the elephants with a rope as of their size to which they could not escape. Since childhood, we conditioned them that they can’t escape from the rope using their strength.”
Moral: Break your rope and go for it.
4. A Wise Man’s Jokes
There lived a wise older man in a village. A large group of villagers used to go to the wise man to get solutions to their problems.
After a few days, the villagers started complaining about the same problem.
One day, instead of listening to their complaints, the wise old man told them a joke.
All of the villagers laughed after hearing the joke. Again, he said the same joke. Few villagers only laughed at the joke. After some minutes, the old man repeated the same joke. To which none of the villagers reacted.
Finally, the old man smiled and said, if you can’t laugh at the same joke again and again, why do all of you keep on complaining about the same problems instead of trying to search for the solutions yourself.
Moral: Instead of wasting your time complaining about problems, you must utilize your time to find the appropriate solutions.
5. It’s Never Too Late
Once a 65 years old man thought of opening his own chicken restaurant.
So, he traveled with a $105 social security fund check across the US to discover talented business partners and offered them his secret recipe.
The old man was surviving with a little food in his small car facing rejection after rejection almost 1,009 times. But, he still persisted. And got a yes at 1010 tries.
Later, 600 franchises sold his Kentucky Fried Chicken. His name was Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, which has around 20,000 outlets internationally.
Moral: It’s never too late to start something in your life, chase your dreams, and succeed.
6. The Boulder and the Gold
Once there lived a king who carried out a small experiment. He had a boulder placed in the middle of the street and hid near the boulder to see if anybody would try to move it out of the way.
At first, wealthy merchants came and walked around the boulder complaining about why the king wasn’t doing his duty properly.
After some time, a peasant was heading home with his arms full of food for his family. When he saw the boulder in the middle of the street, he put all of his groceries down and tried to move the boulder away to make the street clear for everybody.
After a while, the peasant succeeded in moving the boulder away from the street. And picked up his groceries to head home. But, he noticed a left bag in the street, just where the boulder was before.
Later, he discovered the bag was filled with gold coins and a letter that read, “The gold coins are for the peasant who took his time to move the boulder away for clearing the path for everybody.”
Moral : Every obstacle that we face in our life is an opportunity to grow and improve as a person.
7. Dirty Money
Once a group of 150 people went to the seminar of a popular speaker.
The speaker started his seminar by showing a $20 bill to the mass. And asked, “Who wants this money?”
Every one of the group raised their hands. Then, the speaker crumpled the $20 bill and asked the same question. Again, each one of them raised their hands.
After some time, the speaker dropped the bill on the floor and stomped all over it. And asked the same question showing the filthy money. Again, each one of the participants raised their hands.
Then, the speaker said, “No matter what I did to the money and how bad in the condition it is, you all wanted this money. Because it still has value. It is still a $20 bill!”
Moral: How much bad experiences we go through, we are still special and have our own purpose in this world.
8. The Ultimate Test
One night, four students stayed up partying for late hours. The next day was their exams. But, they did not care about it and enjoyed the whole night.
The next morning, they went into the professor’s room with the idea of not having to give exams.
They rolled themselves in dirt and went to meet the professor and said that they had a flat tire and kept on pushing the car back to the campus the whole night yesterday. Thus, they got no time to prepare for the exams.
So, the professor accepted their excuse. And, told them that they could attend their exams after three days.
The next morning, the professor placed the students into four separate rooms. And, the students were ready to give their exams.
The test had only 2 questions:
1. What is your name? (1 point)
2. Which tire was flat? (99 points)
a) Front Right
b) Front Left
c) Back Right
d) Back Left
Moral: We must take responsibility for every action we do in our life.
9. What a Waste
A mother camel and her baby were basking by lying down in the sand.
Then, the baby camel asked his mom, “Why do we have humps on our back?”
His mother replied, “We live in a desert with scarce water. So, our humps help to store water and survive during long journeys.”
The baby camel started to think and asked another question, “Why do we have long legs with rounded feet?”
To which the mommy camel replied, “Well, they help us walk through the sand.”
The baby camel asked the final question, “Why do we have long eyelashes?”
Then, his mother said, “These long eyelashes protect our eyes from the sand whenever the wind blows.”
To which the baby camel said, “If we all have the natural capabilities to survive in the desert, then what’s the use of a camel in the zoo?”
Moral: One must stick in an environment where their inner talents can flourish.
10. Breathing With No Air
Once a boy asked the wise old man what the key to success is?
By hearing the boy’s question, the old man told the boy to meet him tomorrow in the morning at the riverside.
Then, the next morning, the boy and old man were walking towards the river. The old man suddenly ducked the boy into the water. The boy struggled to get out of the water. But, the old man again pushed him into the water.
Similarly, the boy again tried harder to get out of the water. Eventually, the old man pulled out the boy’s head from the water. Then, the boy inhaled a deep breath.
The old man asked the boy, “What you were fighting for when you were underwater?”
The boy replied, “Air.” The old man then said, “There, you have the ultimate key to success. As you were fighting so hard to get air when you were underwater, you must be willing to work so hard to get success.
There’s no other way around.”
Moral: Great desire, hard work and motivation is the ultimate key to success.
11. Sweet Dreams
During the afternoon, a young boy and girl were playing in the neighborhood.
Then, the boy showed the girl his beautiful marble collections. Likewise, the girl showed the boy a handful of delicious chocolates she recently got for her birthday.
Then, the boy proposed to exchange their collections. The little girl agreed, seeing such wonderful marbles.
So, the girl gave the boy all of her chocolates. But, the boy kept one of the unique and his favorite marble and gave away the rest.
That night, the girl slept happily. But, the boy was not able to sleep peacefully. As he thought that the girl may have kept some of her chocolates just like he kept the marble with him.
Moral : One must always be honest and faithful to maintain a balanced and peaceful relationship.
12. Teamwork
Once in a small village, there lived an old man with his three sons. The family was very wealthy. But the problem was the three sons always used to fight with each other.
The old man tried everything to make peace among his sons. But, he never succeeded.
So, one day the old man wanted to teach his sons a practical lesson. He gave each son ten sticks. Then, he told them to break those sticks one by one, and whoever finishes the task first will get a reward.
Each of the sons finished the task within some minutes. But, they again started to fight about who completed the task first.
Then, the old man told his sons that the task was not over yet. He again gave each son a bundle of 10 sticks. And ordered them to break those sticks in a bundle at once. Each of the sons tried their best. But, all of them failed in the task.
The old man smiled and said, “See, all of you easily broke each of the sticks in half but couldn’t break all of the sticks at once. That’s why teamwork is important. Similarly, if you stay together as a united team, nobody will be able to harm you. But, if you all quarrel with each other, then anyone will easily defeat you.”
The test proved out to be successful, and from that day onwards, they never fought with each other.
Moral : Teamwork makes the dreamwork.
13. Frogs for Dinner
A lady was preparing dinner for her family. She lighted the stove and put a pot with water to cook pasta.
Suddenly, a frog fell into the pot. But, the frog didn’t try to get out of the pot. It swam happily in the pot.
After some time, the lady turned the stove to a higher level to boil the water. Still, the frog did nothing to get out of the pot because it was able to adjust its body temperature in the water.
Later, the water’s temperature increased. Now, the frog was unable to adjust its body temperature and tried to jump out of the pot. But, he failed to get out of the pot and lost his life.
Moral: When we face obstacles in our life, we must always try our best to solve them beforehand.
14. Will You Marry Me?
Centuries ago, an Italian businessman was in huge debt. The businessman’s banker greatly desired his beautiful daughter.
So, the banker proposed to the businessman that he would clear all of the debts but, only in one case, if his daughter marries the banker.
The banker did not want to accept the proposal as the banker was a very old and unattractive man.
But, he had no other choice. The banker told the businessman that he would put two stones in the bag. And the daughter must choose the stones.
If the daughter chooses white, the banker would clear all the debts, and his daughter will not need to marry the banker. But, if she chooses black, she must marry the banker, and the debts will be cleared.
While walking in the stone-piled path of the businessman’s yard, the banker picked up two black stones and put them inside the bag. The businessman’s daughter saw the incident from her room. Becoming super tensed, she only thought of three options:
1) Refuse to do it.
2) Expose banker’s cheating by taking out both stones.
3) Pick a stone, knowing it would be black, marry the banker and free her father from the debt.
She picked a stone from the bag and immediately dropped it in the ground, where there were plenty of stones. She asked for forgiveness from the banker and asked to see which stone was left in the bag.
The banker did not want to be exposed. So, he told that she might have chosen the white stone. At last, the businessman’s daughter did not marry the banker, and all of the debt was cleared.
Moral: In every situation and overwhelming problem that arises in our life, we must think creatively, calmly, and outside of the box.
15. Wait…What?
A carpenter decided to retire from his job and informed his boss about it. He told that it was time for him to spend quality time with his wife and family. But, he would miss his job.
His boss was very sad when he heard the news. As the carpenter had been a reliable employee. So, he asked the carpenter just one more favor to build him a house for the last time. The carpenter hesitantly accepted the proposal.
The carpenter had lost all of his passion in his job. So, he used cheap furniture and built the house with no enthusiasm. Later, the house was ready. Then, the boss came and gave the carpenter a key to that house.
The boss said it’s my gift for you for being a hardworking employee for over years. The carpenter was shocked and thought how generous the boss was.
If he had known he was building a house for himself, then he would have made a beautiful house as he did in the past.
Moral: We need to work qualitatively on the present, with enthusiasm, and give our best to whatever we do.
16. Toothpaste Recant
In July, a girl’s summer camp was conducted. One night during the camping, all of the girls were circling around for a nighttime devotion.
The camp counselor asked if anybody wanted to share about anything that happened that day and impacted them.
Then, one girl raised her hand and said that a girl from another camp cabin said something that hurt her very badly.
The camp counselor brought a toothpaste tube from the bathroom. She squeezed the tube. Some toothpaste came out of it. She tried to put the paste back in the tube, but it messed up.
Again, she squeezed the tube more, and overload toothpaste came out. And, she tried to put it all back into the tube. But none of it went back.
After some time, she told all of the campers that words are similar to toothpaste.
Moral: One must take responsibility for every word he speaks.
17. Just Be
A newly married couple spend several days wonderfully with each other.
One night, the man leaned to his wife and whispered into her ear, “I love you.”
She smiled and said, “When I turn 80 and think back on my entire life, I know I will remember this moment.”
After a few minutes, she closed her eyes and slept. Then, the man was left in silence with the soft breathing of his wife.
The man reminisced all of the past days he spent with her, from the first date to vacation to their beautiful wedding. The couple’s choices to spend their life together led them together in the peaceful silence at the moment.
Now, the man realized that nothing mattered, neither where they were or where they were going. But only the tranquility at the moment. Being there, breathing, and resting together.
Moral: The moment you are living in is the most beautiful gift and a miracle. So, be present at the moment and spend your quality time with your loved ones and enjoy the moment wholeheartedly. That’s all that matters.
18. The Weight of the World
One day a psychology professor walked around the classroom holding a glass full of water with his arms straightened. Then, he asked his students, “How heavy is this glass?”
His students shouted and answered about 4 ounces to 1 pound.
But, the professor said, “The weight of the glass does not matter. What really matters is the time you put into holding the glass.”
If I hold it for 2 minutes, it does not feel like a burden. And, if I hold it for an hour, my arms will feel tired. If I hold it for an entire day or week, my arms will feel numb and paralyzed.
And, I will be miserable and cannot think about anything except the pain I’m suffering from.
Finally, he added, “The glass I am holding is similar to the problems and stresses that you hold in your life.”
Moral: One must not hold on to stress for longer periods and ruin their mental health and life. Let go of the things you have no control over.
19. Embrace your struggles
Once a girl found a cocoon and saw a butterfly trying to hatch. She silently watched the butterfly trying to come out of the hole. The butterfly struggled for an hour and suddenly stopped moving after some time.
Then, the girl decided to help the butterfly to get out of the cocoon and went to get scissors. She then cut the cocoon open.
Later, the butterfly came out of the cocoon easily. But, its body was swollen, and its wings were underdeveloped.
The girl waited for the butterfly to grow its wings and fly. But it didn’t happen. Sadly, the butterfly’s wings didn’t grow.
Thus, the buttery only was able to crawl in the ground with its large body but too short wings.
Despite the pure intentions of the girl, she did not understand the importance of the struggle of the butterfly to get out of the cocoon, develop itself and fly freely, spreading its beautiful wings in the sky.
Moral: One must embrace the struggle whatever life throws at.
20. Seeking Happiness
Once a group of 200 people attended a seminar on mental and physical health.
As a fun activity, the speaker told them to write their names on the balloons. Later, the speaker collected the balloons and put them in another room.
After some time, the speaker told the groups to find their named balloon within 2 minutes. Every participant went to the next room and pushed each other to find their balloons. But, nobody succeeded in finding their balloons within the estimated time.
Now, the speaker told them to go again in the room, pick any balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. By doing so, every participant got their own balloon and was very happy.
Moral: The real happiness comes from helping other people to find theirs.
21. There Was Once A Boy…
There was once a boy who belonged to a very wealthy family. One day, his father took him on a trip to show the life of less fortunate people and make him value the things he has.
The boy and his father went to the farm where a very poor family lived. They spent several weeks with the family helping them to grow their foods and take care of the land.
After they returned from the farm, the boy’s father asked if he enjoyed the trip and learned something throughout the time they spent with the family.
The boy quickly answered, “Yes, the trip was too fun. That family is super lucky.” The father became too confused by what his son had just said.
Then, the boy added, “Well, we only have one dog, but they have four dogs and many chickens too. Our family has four members only, but they have 12 to play with them.
We have a pool in the yard, but they have an endless river on their farm. The lanterns help us to see light at night, but they have a wide-open sky with a beautiful view of the stars that show them light.
We have a patio, but they have huge fields where they can play together and see the horizon. To buy food, we need to go to the grocery, but they have their own fields to grow fresh foods and enjoy them.
The high fences protect our house and family, but they have their friends to protect them. Thank you so much for making me meet with such a wealthy family.”
After hearing that, the father was out of words.
Moral: True riches and happiness in life are happy families, people who love, value, and protect you.
22. A Pound is a Pound
In a village, a farmer sold a pound of butter each week to a baker.
After a few weeks, the baker measures whether the farmer was selling exactly one pound of butter to him or not. After the measurement, he found out that the butter was under one pound.
Now, the baker was very angry and took the farmer to court for cheating him. In the court, the judge asked the farmer how he weighs the butter.
To which the farmer answers, “Your Honor, I am a very poor man. So, I do not have an exact measuring tool. But, I do own a scale.”
After that, the judge asks if the farmer used the scale to weigh butter and how does he measure it.
Then, the farmer replies, “Your Honor, the baker sold me a loaf of bread when he started buying the butter from me. So, I used to measure the exact loaf from the scale and sell the same amount to him.
So, if he’s not getting one pound of butter, then he never sold me a pound loaf of bread. In that case, he’s the real cheater!”
Moral: What you give, you receive. So, one must be honest.
23. Jumping Frogs
A group of frogs was jumping in the forest. Suddenly, two frogs fell into a deep pit. While the rest frogs were looking into the pit and said they couldn’t help. As the pit was too deep and dangerous to get out from.
Not listening to the talks, the two frogs started jumping to get out from the pit. But, they could not succeed. Now, all of the frogs kept on saying that they won’t be able to get out of that pit.
One of the frogs, by hearing it, already gave up his hope and accepted death there. Whereas the next frog just kept on trying hard and jumped again and again. After many tries, the frog finally succeeded in getting out of the pit.
All of the frogs were surprised because the pit was too deep. And, they said, didn’t you hear us when we said no frogs could jump that high.
Then, the surviving frog signaled that he was deaf and thought all of them were encouraging him to try his best to get out of the pit.
Moral: Cut off yourself from toxic people and ignore whatever they say. Only surround yourself with those who support you.
24. The Ultimate Gift
Once there was a girl who desperately needed a blood transfusion from her little brother. She was fighting through life and death, and the transfusion was an emergency.
Her five years old brother had the same disease, but unbelievably he recovered from the disease. So, the doctors needed to transfuse the blood of the boy as he had antibodies that could save the girl.
The doctor asked the small boy for permission. He hesitated for some time but later agreed to the procedure. The doctor was transfusing the blood while the small boy was laying in the bed next to his sister.
He was happy when he saw his sister’s cheeks begin to show some colors.
After that, the boy asked the doctor, “When am I going to die, Doctor?”
The parents of the boy were surprised due to his misunderstanding on choosing the daughter over the son. More than that, they were astonished that though thinking that he would die, he selflessly gave his blood to his sister.
The doctor slightly smiled, “My little boy, you are not going to die. You are just giving your blood to your sister, which will save her life and make her healthy.”
Moral: Ego does not help you build warm and stronger relationships in your life, selflessness does.
25. Angry Nails
There was once a boy who was very angry-natured. His uncontrolled rage always used to hurt other students and disturb the whole class. So, he was often sent to his home.
One day the boy’s father tries to control his anger with practicality. So, his father tells him to take a hammer nails and hammer one nail each time in the fence whenever he gets angry.
On the next day, the boy hammered 37 nails in the fence. Over a few weeks, the boy got bored of hammering the nails in the fence.
So, he tried to control his anger. After a few days, the number of nails started decreasing. The boy found it was easy to control his anger than to hammer the nails.
His father noticed that and told him to take out the nails from the fence each time he was able to control his anger.
After a few weeks, there were no nails left in the fence.
Then, his father said, “Congratulations, my son, you succeeded in controlling your anger. But, look at the condition of the fence; it’s all wounded by the holes.
Now, you can’t make the fence the same as it was before. Do you see what anger does? You can’t hurt somebody with your anger and then say sorry to repair them.”
Moral: Being calm and speaking gently is a must in any kind of situation in life.
26. Walking on Water
Once there was a boy who lived with his family and a beautiful dog on a farm. The boy and his dog would often practice in a nearby pond from their house to fetch various things as the duck hunt season was arriving soon.
As the hunting season started, the boy and his dog went hunting the ducks. The boy shot the gun three times, and lastly, a duck fell into the pond.
He ordered the dog to fetch the duck. Instead of swimming, the dog walked on the surface of the water and brought the duck back to the boy.
Surprised by such a sight, the boy thought of calling his neighbor to see it too.
The next day the boy, his dog, and neighbor went to the pond to hunt a duck. The neighbor killed the duck in a single shot. Immediately, the boy ordered his dog to fetch the hunt. The dog ran and, like the previous day, walked on the water and brought back the duck.
The boy, with full pride, unable to control his happiness,s asked his neighbor, “Did you see what just happened? What do you think?”
The neighbor replied, “Well, I was going to tell you about this. But your dog can’t swim. That’s so sad!”
The boy was very disappointed with the neighbor’s answer. And then he thought why couldn’t he praise what my dog did, as he walked on the water, no other dogs can do that!!
That was a pure miracle! Instead, all he said was cover it with a simple flaw that my dog can’t swim.
Moral: Ignore criticizers. Believe in yourself, do your best, and self-master on your uniqueness, and shine as yourself. Give wings to your magic!
27. It’s Not That Complicated
The story goes back to an ancient time. There lived a wise man who was elderly in his age and held knowledge of numerous books.
One day when he went on a walk, he realized that his shoes were starting to turn out. So, he thought about how to buy proper shoes for his feet.
Then, he collected many books of his favorite writers and started to research “How to measure your shoe size.”
Then, he found the answer to take a stick and measure your old shoes. And, that will help you buy the fitting new shoes.
The next day, the man went to the shoe shop. He found an interesting shoe and told the shopkeeper that he would buy it. But, the stick was missing. So, the man went to his house and came back to the shop with the stick. But, the shop was already closed.
The next morning, the man went to the shop to buy the shoe. But, the shoe was already sold. He angrily told the shopkeeper, why did you sell it when I was going to buy it.
Then, the shopkeeper replied, “I’m sorry, sir! But, you left the shop without saying anything. So, I had to sell it to another buyer. By the way, why did you go out of the shop suddenly?”
The man answered, “I forgot my stick to bring with me. So, I went to bring it back. Because the books I have researched told me that measuring old shoes with a stick is needed to buy fitting new shoes.”
After hearing what the man said, the shopkeeper laughed and said, “ Well, you don’t really need a stick to buy fitting shoes.
You just need your feet and some money and common sense. It’s not that complicated.”
Moral: One must practically think outside of the box. And, not overthink things at all.
28. Don’t Hold Back
In a reputed company, there was a strict CEO who often made his employees get more disciplined and showed them their mistakes and laziness.
One day, when the employees arrived at the office, they saw a shocking message on the door. The message read, “Yesterday, who was holding you back from achieving success has died. Come to the assembly room for the funeral.”
All of the employees were sad when they thought about the CEO’s family. But, they were thrilled too because they thought their boss, who held them back from achieving success, passed away.
The employees entered the auditorium room. But, they were too surprised as the CEO was standing right in front of them and was alive. Now, they thought if our boss wasn’t holding us back from achieving success, then who really was?
There they saw a coffin and went one by one to see who was in that coffin and holding them back.
There in the coffin, each of them saw a mirror and their own face and a note on the side which read, “You are the only person who is holding you back from reaching your highest potential.
You can only influence and change yourself personally.
Your self-limiting thoughts and actions have led you far from achieving success.”
Moral: We must not self-limit ourselves and hold ourselves back from reaching our truest potential.
29. The Chef’s Daughter
Once there was a daughter who was complaining about the difficulties in her life and how will she overcome them to her father.
After solving one, another problem soon arises. So, she told that she was too tired of everything that was going on in her life.
Her father was a chef. Listening to the daughter’s problem, he took his daughter into the kitchen. Without speaking anything, he put three pots with the same size of water on the stove and heated them.
After that, he placed a potato, an egg, and grounded coffee beans in each of those pots. He heated them for about 20 minutes.
Then, after a few minutes, he took out the potato egg and scooped the brewed coffee in a mug with the spoon.
The daughter was silently looking at what her father was doing. After some time, she asked, “With this, what are you trying to tell me, father?”
Then, her father spoke, “All of these food items that I put for heating also faced hardships for the exact time, i.e., about 20 minutes.
But, how they turned out after they underwent hardship is different. The potato was hard before, but now it is soft and weak.
The egg was soft, but now it is hard and strong. Whereas the coffee totally mixed up with the water and turned out as a delicious drink.
The same goes for all of the struggles we suffer. No matter how hard the situation gets, it’s up to you how you will react throughout the situation.
It’s only up to you whether you become soft or weak, become strong, or turn into something beautiful.
Moral: All of the struggles you face will make you wiser, and stronger.
30. Cleaning Turtles
Every Sunday morning, a young man used to take his dog for a walk around the lake. Around the edge of the lake, he always saw an old lady sitting with a small metal cage next to her.
One Sunday morning, the man thought of talking to the old lady and went where she was sitting.
As he came near the lady, he saw the metal cage had three tortoises, and the lady was cleaning the shell of a small tortoise softly by laying it on her lap.
The man, with his curiosity, asked the lady, “Excuse me, mam, What are you doing with these tortoises?”
The old lady answered, “I come here every Sunday to clean the shells of these tortoises. As their shells might contain algae which lower their heat absorption capacity, and it’s hard for them to swim later.
Further, their shells may corrode and get weak if it remains dirty for a longer time.”
The man was so captivated by the lady’s deeds. But he asked, “Well, every tortoise is living with algae on their shells, aren’t they? And, there are a lot of tortoises who need help in this case.
But are you making any difference by only helping these tortoises?
After hearing what the man said, the old lady laughed and replied, “Well, young man, if this small tortoise on my lap could talk, it would say I am making a huge difference in this world!”
Moral: Though we can’t help everybody, we must reach out to those who we can help. It can change their whole world.
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