Back in July there was a Fierce Forward meet up. It was a day of bootcamp, yoga, walk of intention, vision boarding, picture taking and closed the night out with dinner and drinks. It was incredible. Every single woman there was extremely different but there we were, together, moving fiercely through whatever life was throwing at us.
During the vision boarding, Ashley (the Fierce Forward creator) handed out large pieces of canvas for our vision boarding. We were also given some paper. Fortunately I am more of a talker, especially in groups and I didn’t have enough time to finish two vision boards. I took the canvas with me. I had high hopes of continuing the project.
The lone canvas sheet sat empty for months. When my girl friends and I planned a girls night, I took the canvas with and decided to sew a clutch out of it and paint it. This is what you get when you mix Fierce Forward, #Truthbombs and me.
I knew I wanted to use the Truthbombs on it. I’ve been receiving the daily truth bomb in my email box for quite sometime and it just makes me happy seeing that first thing. The problem is picking one. There are over 900. I wanted to use so many of them but since I had the idea for the clutch I also wanted a tribal bird on the front. That helped me narrow it down a little.
Two stuck out.
For days, I tried to just pick one. But I just couldn’t and here’s why…
I used to have this friend, she was my neighbor…well sort of. We lived in a small town in Minnesota and even though she lived over a mile away, we were still considered neighbors. We were in the same grade and sat together on the bus every single day for years. We would sit together, chatting away, on our hour bus ride, until she decided to take a chance at being popular. I had no such desire.
Everyday on our long bus ride she would tell stories. I always loved listening to her. She was SO animated and had different funny voices for every character. She’s the type of person that makes a story fun, even if you’ve heard it a million times before. She was on the speech team in middle and high school and I remember her winning an apple trophy (it was THE thing to win on speech team).
Anyway, I don’t remember how it happened but I came across her blog years ago, which was amazing because now she had her OWN stories to share and they were just as fantastic! She also wrote a book! I purchased her book and in it she shares a parable she heard from someone which would stick with me for years and eventually lead me to these two #truthbombs.
I don’t remember it word for word, but it goes a little something like this…
A farmer was out in his forest and he came across a small bird, a baby eagle. It was lost with no mama in sight. The farmer decided to help the bird, so he scooped him up and brought him home to raise him…
As one of his chickens.
The farmer would come out and feed the birds in the coop. He would toss out food and the chickens would peck the food and ruffle their feathers, the eagle learned this behavior. Soon the eagle was clucking and clattering along with the chickens, belonging. The eagle NEVER looked to the sky, but why would he? He was a chicken.
One day a wise man came across the farm and noticed the chicken coop. He noticed the eagle and asked the farmer, “what is this eagle, King of the Sky doing pecking at the ground as chickens do? Eagles are meant to SOAR!”
The farmer looked at the man and stated, “that there is a chicken. Walks like a chicken, eats and talks like a chicken.”
The wise man then asked the farmer if he could prove that this was in fact an eagle. The farmer gave a head nod. The wise man placed the eagle on his arm and said to the bird, “you are an eagle, meant to SOAR among the clouds. You are King of the Sky.”
The eagle looked at the man but before he made any movement the farmer pulled out the seed and began feeding the chickens. The eagle hopped down and joined the chickens pecking at the ground.
“See, that there’s a chicken.”
The next day the wise man returned, but much like the first day the eagle didn’t believe the man and as the farmer fed he chickens the eagle hopped down to join them pecking at the ground, clucking and clattering, and wiggling their tail feathers.
On the third day, after the farmer told the wise man that he wasn’t very wise, the wise man pleaded with the farmer to allow him one more chance to prove that this was in fact an EAGLE. Hesistantly the farmer agreed. This time the wise man took the eagle and climbed to the top of a tree that touched the sky. He whispered to the bird,
“You are an eagle. You are destined to be King of the Sky. I know this may be hard for you to believe but please trust in me. You were not meant to peck the ground but to soar above. You are a symbol of freedom and do not belong in a coop. The time has come to FLY.”
Far below the farmer began to feed the chickens. Before the eagle could be induced to join the chickens the wind picked up. He slowly spread his wings, wings he hadn’t really seen before, took one last look at the wise man and with a cry he jumped from the mans arms and seized the sky.
That parable meant a lot to me but it was the words my childhood friend used after that made me appreciate the story even more. She said that our lives are full of chicken, people that have no aspiration to fly. Our lives are also full of farmers, nice, kind people that will never know our full potential. We may be lucky to have a wise person and we’re grateful when they find us but there is NO reason why we should wait to be found.
If you suspect your an eagle, and you suspect you might be living among chickens, flee the coop. Spend time with people who spend no time pecking at the ground because they are far too busy reaching for the sky. Flee the chicken coup and seek out other eagles with whom to soar.
That, my friends, is why I choose “Use your wings” and “leave the flock”. My own reminder that I am meant to soar.
Much love,
Jes xoxo
PS. If you would like to check my childhood friend’s book out you can find it here!