As we turned out of the residential area and onto the main road leading out to the highway I saw it immediately from quite a distance away.
It was a snapping turtle and it was a fairly large one as well. If I had been thinking I would have set something beside it to give you some perspective before taking its picture. From the top of its snout to the end of its tail I’m sure this one was close to two feet long.
Much like counting the rings on a tree you can count the rings on the outer edge of the shell of a snapping turtle to determine its age. Let’s just say I think this turtle is pretty old as I didn’t count the rings.
As I got out of the car and approached the turtle it withdrew its head into its shell as you can see in the picture.
This action is a defense mechanism learned at a very young age. Obviously, the shell provides a great barrier of protection against its enemies.
The interesting thing, though, is that snapping turtles of this age have very few enemies. About the only thing that can hurt a creature like this would be a car as it crossed the road as it was doing on this day.
While the turtle recoiled as I got closer, it never crossed my mind to reach out and grab it or disturb it. If that thing reached out its snout to bite me the damage would be quite painful. The turtle doesn’t quite grasp just what he’s made of and still lives in the mindset it gained when it was young.
As a young turtle it had plenty of predators that would love to have it for a snack. Withdrawing into its shell as a youngster paid great dividends in prolonging its life.
As an adult snapper it continues to live life in the shell when it feels it may be in danger. The learned behaviors of its youth have not changed to for it to recognize its power and strength in the food chain.
Recently, I took a survey of readers of my blog. Many of you participated and for that I thank you!
Question #7 in that survey was: What is the biggest challenge you face right now in living courageously?
The majority, not all, but the vast majority of the responses to that question centered around meeting other people’s expectations, or self limiting beliefs or attitudes, or fear of failure or worry about what others might think.
Trust me, I can relate to all of those feelings. I struggle with them more than I care to admit. The growth of my business is similar to that turtle crossing the road, very slow, because I’m worried about what others think, I have too many self-defeating attitudes and I’m afraid to fail.
Most of those feelings are directly related to things that happened to me or were said to me when I was young. Much like that snapper in the road they are learned behaviors from my youth that continue to affect me today. I’m guessing the same may be true for you as well.
Much like that turtle I have a tendency to withdraw into the comfort and safety of life inside the shell. The problem is that when I withdraw I don’t get anywhere. That turtle in the picture never took a single step forward while his head was pulled back in his shell.
Much like that old, grizzled turtle there really isn’t much that can hurt us as adults. Sure, there is the metaphorical car that might run us over in our quest to get to the other side of our road but even that is an opportunity to grow and learn.
It takes courage to live life outside the shell.
Much like the turtle growth and progress happen only when we are willing to stick our necks out and take some risks.
One of the lessons I am learning way too late in life is that the people that are important to me want to see me be successful. They are for me and not against me. People are even willing to help me if I have the courage to stick my neck out and ask for help.
Do you have the courage to examine the messages you have received that compel you to withdraw into your shell?
I believe its only when you deal with those messages that you will be able to live life outside the shell and stick your neck out.
I believe we are all far more capable of great things than we give ourselves credit for because we live life inside the shell.
What will you do today to courageously stick your neck out?
Matthew 25:14-30
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
