Get Up & Show Up

Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe falls about 10 feet to the ground during the process and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over and tucks its legs under its body. From this position it considers the world for the first time and gets rudely introduced to some first lessons of life from the mother giraffe.

She typically lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over her calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heels.

When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is excruciating to watch. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts. Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. This should be the end of the story.

But then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes. They would all have much more feeding-time success if the mother didn’t teach her calf to get up quickly and get moving along.

The late Irving Stone was once asked if he had found a thread that runs through the lives of all the exceptional people about whom he wrote. He said, “I write about people who sometime in their life have a vision or dream of something that should be accomplished; then they go to work. They are beaten over the head, knocked down, vilified, and for years they get nowhere. But every time they are knocked down they stand up. You cannot destroy these people. And at the end of their lives they’ve accomplished some modest part of what they set out to do.”

Exceptional people choose to get up and show up – regardless of circumstances. They learn lessons from everything and maintain the perspective of one who will win in the end; no matter what! What’s holding you back?

Learn more about how DREAM4 can help you overcome challenges to reach your goals! Make it a great May!