I was reading the book ‘Unlimited’ by Jillian Michaels and came across this story which the author had read somewhere and shared in her book.
Once a father and son go to visit a circus which had recently come to their town. They were extremely excited and curious to watch it.
While the duo enjoyed watching it, the son was stunned by the fact that after the performance the elephants would be kept held by having the front legs chained and tied to the stake in the ground.
Why a creature as mighty as an elephant, which can uproot a big tree, will not break free the from chain and run away. Why it stays there and let itself be bound by it.
His curious mind didn’t let him rest in peace and involuntarily he asked this from his father. His father replied elephants have been kept like this since they were small and weak. That time the chain was strong enough for them to break. They tried to break and probably failed.
Now after so many years when they have grown up, they live under the same impression that this chain is very strong and cannot be broken. Their mind has got so accustomed to that fact that they don’t realize their potential now and don’t even try.
A simple story but tells a lot about our behavior and mindset.
Some of our bad experiences and failures in past prevent us from trying in the future.
Although now we are capable enough to overcome all the obstacles, we tend to dwell on our past failures and give up without trying.