I heard an analogy once about a fish on a bowl. Someone once read a fact in a book or in some article about fish. It is indeed a fact that if you put a fish in a bowl, it will only grow as big as the bowl will allow it to. Put the fish in a bigger bowl, then it will grow even bigger. Some fish will strive to swim and jump out of the bowl to finding new bigger and vast bodies of water. But it if they don't find that big body of water, they will suffocate and die, because they can only breathe under water.
The fish in a bowl analogy has a lot of lessons for us to think about. First off, sometimes we could be in an environment that stunts our growth. This could be in the work place, a school, or even in the very town you live in. There are people who want to strive for success in their work or business but just can't seem to bring it to new heights because where they are at is just too small for them, or the fish. When the environment is as small as a miniature bowl, that can be as suffocating for the fish as being outI of the water.
And what the fish won't realize is that they do not get the chance to grow either. Tey never grow to be the full sized fish that they could possibly be. There are people who want to excel in school, and they feel like there are limited opportunities to learning exactly what it is they need to learn or avenues of acquiring skill in order to move on in their ducation. But their school is such a small bowl and they don't grow.
There are so many people who want to go on and do great things. There people we always hear saying "I can't wait to leave this town!" and sometimes they do in order to make BIG things happen for themselves. Dolly Parton, as much as she loved and was proud to be a farmer's daughter, wanted so much to live her dreams and live her true fairy tale life and went out into the world to make herself a big star! Lucille Ball felt she had to leave her little home of Jamestown, NY so she can become a great actress one day. She would say she felt like she had so much to do and being in her small town was going to make her burst.
I have a good friend named Kristyn. We grew up in this small town called Saddle Brook in New Jersey. And it is a VERY small town. Kristyn is extremely talented on so many levels. When she went to college, she had no problem when it came time to leaving Saddle Brook and going to Boston for college and making a way for herself.
But sometimes even the most polished and crystal clear bowls just aren't big enough for the fish. Kristyn ended up getting a fantastic job in New York City for Sports Illustrated. But after quite some time, it was not making her happy. She wanted to leave and EVERYONE told her she would be crazy for leaving the job, it was secure with benefits and room for growth etc. But in the end it was not what she wanted. She ended up leaving her Sports Illustrated job and going back towards the Boston area doing what some may consider unconventional, but being successful and happy nonetheless, despite the odds.
Everyone knows how much I love Barbara Walters, the greatest journalist of our time, I don't care who you are, you cannot deny her style, work, accomplishments, and success. She was the first female co-anchor of a news program and highest paid with a salary of one million dollars a year! When asked about why she said "I want to say ABC gave me an offer I could not refuse, but it was also going to be historic for women, and that meant a great deal."
But she wasn't a big hit at first. Her male co-anchor did NOT want her there and made it clear on the air by his behavior toward her and the audience didn't either because of it. Barbara was a fish who jumped out of the water to finding a bigger bowl, but just couldn't find her way to that bowl. Barbara would say she felt like she was drowning with no life preserver. Well as a fish, she was suffocating and until someone through her a line to get into that bigger body of water. She took a risk, and she suffocated at first, but it lead to her ultimate success.
Of course not everyone takes on and offer to a big body of water like Barbara did. Carol Burnett, like my friend Kristyn, refused a big body of water to create her own. Lucille Ball, who was Carol's idol and mentor, offered her her very own television show through Desilu Studio, the empire Lucy was running. She was being offered a dream from her own personal idol! How could she refuse? But she did.Carol wanted to find her own opportunity and create something that wasn't done before, and her variety show to this day is one of the greatest and funniest contributions to television. In fact, the STV Special CBS offered her to do in order to prove herself worthy of a show, Carol Burnett called in her idol Lucy who was more than happy to help her protege make it to her own body of water.
So as you can see, making the difficult decision to finding new big bodies of water isn't always an easy one. Sometimes there are fantastic opportunities and you shouldn't be stupid enough to turn them down. You have to be smart and know when the bowl you're in is keeping you from growing like a fish in a small bowl. Sometimes great opportunities are presented and you let them go by, but if you do you have to be willing to making your path one that is well worth taking and making a greater body of water. The bottom line, you have to know when it is time to become a Big Fish and how to remain that way. (BOWS)
Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO
Loved this!!
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