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Sowinig blessings and life lessons to encourage, refresh, and benefit our lives.
Some people agonize from, the miserable,
wretched, destructive, unpromising, ill-fated
crabs-in-a-barrel syndrome.
They don't want to see others succeed. When they
see another ascending... they try to hold them down.
People who constantly compare themselves to
others may develop awful feelings of
inadequacy.
When competition is motivated by a desire to
get attention and validation from others, it’s
ultimately coming from a place of insecurity,
defencelessness, self-consciousness, fear,
timidity and self-doubt.
Competition can get ugly, and we don’t want
to fall into a viciously savage circle of
self-loathing, reluctance, self-doubt, mousiness,
inhibition, and skepticism because it seems
impossible to beat our past successes.
Unwholesome competition puts a warped and
twisted degree of emphasis on the outcome, rather
than valuing the process or the journey involved
in getting there. And when the outcome becomes
the sole focus, it can promote the idea that one has
to do “Whatever it takes” in order to succeed. This
kind of mentality can lead to all sorts of bad
decisions and unethical practices.
It is a beautiful thing when we focus on beating
our best... and becoming the very best version of
ourselves. When we try to compete with others,
we are actually following rules instead of
creating our own game.
Let us not find ourselves moving towards
someone else’s accomplishments instead of just
moving forward in a direction that is ours to shape.
When we compete with someone else, we let their
values define our goals and the perception of our
own performance.
Those who get most bent out of shape about
the success of others typically struggle with inner
questions about their competence and suffer
feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth when
others press on to their higher calling. They waste
time holding another down... not even realizing
that we stay down... together.
Crab mentality involves pulling down anyone who
achieves or is about to achieve success greater than
others. This behavior takes its name from how crabs
scramble to get out of a boiling pot by clambering on
top of the others.
Crab mentality creeps in and destroys fellow
crabs to the detriment of the whole. Put a bunch
of crabs in a barrel... as one draws closer to the edge
of the barrel, nearing their escape... the other ones
will drag him back into the barrel.
If you are trying to better yourself... you
may find yourself in a similar situation.
For instance:
You desperately want to achieve a goal, but
every time you try to ascend... there are a few
who may disguise themselves as your friends
or loved ones and they pull you back down...
and hold you down. The closer you get to escaping...
the more your efforts are sabotaged.
People tend to be more emotionally invested in
comparing themselves to family and friends
more than to strangers.
Sharing our dreams with one who has another agenda
or may not have our best interest at heart could be
disastrous. Too much information allows crabs to
sabotage our efforts.
Often this is applied to people in an impoverished
community where one person is starting to get ahead.
The collective community becomes jealous or filled
with a sense of self-loathing, so they find a way to pull
that person back down to the community's level.
The crabs will pull down any crab
that starts to climb out of the barrel!
All of the struggling crabs could easily escape
from the barrel, but instead they relentlessly grab
and pull others down in the pot. They spend far too
much time and energy in a futile competition which
prevents any of them from escaping to freedom, and
in the process they are collectively subjected to
suffocation and death.
When people engage in this kind of behavior...
it can pretty much guarantee our communal demise.
Sometimes even family members will become
jealous and try to derail or sidetrack our efforts
by attempting to destroy our spirit.
Regardless of the obstacles that come against us...
we can make it.
We must love our enemies, and bless the ones
who curse us, and do what is beautiful to the ones
who hate us, and pray for those who persecute and
speak evil about us.
Those closest to us may be
crabs in disguise.
Those closest to you may not be as happy with your
progress as you would like to think they are.
Just as a flower does not belittle or compete with the
flower next to it, but rather it follows the movement
of the sun so it can grow and bloom. We should also
be doing the same. It is vitally important to make sure
that we focus on growing and blooming, and staying
in our own lane-- fully committed to doing the work
we were created to do.
People who have a crab mentality
are always trying to bring their opponent down.
Those who make every attempt to suppress,
oppress, and discourage others are being derailed
and/or sidetracked from achieving their true calling.
They are making, absolutely, no progress for themselves.
They exhaust themselves with the full-time duty of holding
others down. They're obsessed with the idea that someone
else is going to steal their thunder...
not good.
You know that you don't belong in a barrel.
Keep climbing out of the barrel regardless of all
the crab claws that may be snapping at you.
Trust...
there are kindred souls outside of the bucket
who will take pleasure in pulling you up
and over to freedom.
When we allow or assist one to climb out of the barrel,
we can give them the ability to reach back in
and pull others out, too.
Most people want to be successful by earning
money and fame. Some have achieved almost
everything in life, but still find themselves
feeling voids, emptiness and unfulfillment. Some
lives are full of external reward, but their lives lack
internal reward.
Life is a journey. What is the fun reaching a
destination if you do not enjoy journey at all.
We all have at least one thing that we just love
doing. It may be sewing or playing a sport.
It may be dancing, singing, cooking, decorating,
raising a family, teaching, preaching, working on cars,
helping people, etc. Maybe you draw and write
just because you love to do it. We do these things even
if they do not bring us any income/external rewards.
We should never stop doing these things just because
it will not get us anywhere professionally.
Let us embrace what we do. Keep doing what
makes our hearts smile, as inner joy is a
tremendous reward.
When we help others, our lives seem to have
meaning and purpose. When we give our hearts
in kindness and love, we get the riches of the
universe, which is far more rewarding than material
possessions. When we are generous with others, our
lives feel fruitful and rich with possibility. When we
can inspire others to trust God, believe in the
impossible, take the leap of faith, and become the
best version of themselves-- we experience,
internally, the missing link-- joy-- that inner
fulfillment. Our dream or our goal should be
something that inspires us within. Then life will be
an amazing and fulfilling journey!
Let us do what we were designed to do, and
let God's grace do what it does.
May we always, build others up, bear with
the blunders of those who are spiritually
weak--and not think of ourselves more highly
than we ought.
May we keep God in the forefront and
commit our way to Him.
carolecgood@carolecgood.com
www.carolecgood.com
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