Year of the Lobster

That discomfort that you’re feeling. What if it’s exactly what you need to feel?

Stay with me here…

Last year the social media Gods blessed me with a short clip of a the captivating Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski talking to the virtues of pain, adversity and personal growth, using the humble lobster as a metaphor. There was something about his delivery, so matter-of-fact… it resonated long after the clip reeled by. Long story short (too late), I’ve used this same metaphor in numerous workshops and sessions since.

Here is how it plays out.

Business is often hard. Suddenly, the work isn’t working anymore. You aren’t making an impact. You feel uncomfortable in your own skin. 

Why?

It’s easy to point the finger at the macro economic forces, societal pressures, the cultural divide. It’s not us! It’s them! If we keep doing what we’ve always done, things will come around…

Or. You can be the lobster.

A lobster outgrows its shell. What starts as a feeling of discomfort, of constraint, builds into pain until it has no choice... it retreats, and hides from the world.

It sheds its shell.

It becomes vulnerable, and waits until its new shell grows. Waiting patiently to build itself into its new form.

When it’s ready, it ventures back into the world. Exactly who it should be. Hardened. Protected. Ready to explore.

When you experience discomfort, your doctor may give you something to take it away. You might reach for your favourite vice (hello pinot noir) to distract yourself. Or, worse yet, you may do nothing… ignoring the path ahead, and the potential of what could be.

Embrace the discomfort. It’s a sign. It’s time.

Cast off the old shell. Sure you’ll be vulnerable for a while.. but that new shell. Oh man.

This year… be the lobster.