How to eat an elephant

Sitting in a cold library with my Egyptian colleague, satisfyingly warmed by the hot mugs of chai tea we were sipping on slowly. We sat musing and complaining about how stressful life was about to get for us in the near future with reports and presentations expected to fly out of our armpits on demand. Then he turns to me, looking straight into my eyes and he asks me the craziest question ever! (NO! Not "Will you marry me?!")

Him: Ghenz, How does one go about eating an elephant?

Me:.............. Are you that stressed? Elephants? Really? It has not come to that babe!

Him: (laughing) No! Silly! I don’t mean literally but imagine if you had to eat an elephant…how would you?

Me:……………..(with an expression you only see on the face of a blonde....retard, considering to make a run for the door).

I sat and pondered on his question for a full minute with what I can assume was a purely comical bewildered expression on my face because he burst at laughing.
In mind, I had pictured myself opening my mouth to an awkward width of at least 20metres and imagined myself swallowing an elephant ....WHOLE!
Retarded right? Yeah! I comprehended that ridden with shame half a second later.

Thankfully he spared me from further mental embarrassment and answered his own question.

Him: One bite at a time.

Me: ..........Ooooooohhhh yeeeaah! You are so right! But what has that got to with wor...... OMGosh! I get it!

The philosophical meaning of his question abruptly exploded into my mind like POW! *Jackie Chan Fly kick*

I literally heard the realisation drop between my ears.

Revelation

It is so easy to feel overwhelmed with the prospects of having ‘literally’ a million things to do in a short space of time.  As you glance over that 2 page ‘To do’ list, your blood pressure starts to peak and chunks of your hair starts to fall onto your shoulders slowly.

This is the point when your life, mental stability and hair depend on you endeavouring to relate the lesson of the ‘Elephant’ to your life. Otherwise do your family a favour and at least pick out your own coffin.

The same way I mentally attempted to swallow an elephant whole and was bitterly disappointed and ashamed. It is the same way you would feel if you viewed your life goals like so. The mere thought sets you up for an unavoidable disappointment.

If weighing ten stones is your life goal and you’re currently weighing sixteen stones, focusing on the whole six stones you will have to lose will stress your life! You can easily be overwhelmed by such a huge task. As time passes, you notice over and over that your goal still hasn’t been accomplished and you are still overweight but you don’t know what to do. That constant reinforcement of failure in your mind will not be healthy for them falling hair chunks! In fact that thought alone could either drive one to anorexia, bulimia or comfort eating or even suicide!!! (extreme but so possible). None of which are exactly good options.

Trying to focus on really big goals so much will only leave you feeling dissatisfied for long lengths of time and if not careful, your entire existence!

Stop being a Glutton

There is beauty in small bites, small goals! Smaller goals which will slowly but surely add up and result in you achieving your big goal. For now, you could aim to lose 5lbs a week.

Having such a small goal like that will give you something concrete to focus on whilst you slowly attain your big goal. Knowing what you need to do to get what you really want will put a sprig of inspiration into your every action. Have a step by step course of action that will strictly keep you on course.

Your life gratification will undoubtedly be a lot greater if your outlook of your life shifts and you are able to work towards a series of several small landmarks, rather than one colossal milestone that you are probably not even going to achieve.  Alas!! This is not an excuse to become waste and not aim for the sky, but rather looking to taking sky scraper climbing lessons and pilot courses to finally get to that point.  

So you have an elephant in mind that you intend to swallow, take your time! Stop thinking like such a damn glutton or you will choke. Take joy in the small bites until you get there.

p.s. If you still don't get the saying then *Kanye shrug*.... you may be one of those people that are destinied to choke on your elephant and die...or maybe you were born blonde.... or I simply DON'T know for you!

Peace, Love and Watermelon seeds

xx