Lobster philosophy - at times of stress

How can lobsters grow?

Lobsters grow through a process called molting. These crustacean giants living in the depths of the sea has a hard exoskeleton. Meaning their soft bodies are covered and protected by the hard shell. Of so how can they grow? They have to crack shed their old skeleton and a new soft skeleton will form which allows them to expand in girth. Overtime which hardens and become a rigid skeleton again. But the most important aspect is not the process, the trigger for them to grow and shed their skeleton is none other than the stress induced by their own bodies against their own skeleton. And we can summarize this as "Its time of stress that provides us to expand and grow, shedding our own exoskeleton of restricted confinements"

Lobsters: https://unsplash.com/@danielnorris

If you do not know, this is also true for human growth as well. Populations tend to have higher growth rates at times of stress. If you look at the world and growth rates of each country with relative level of development, we can see this. Although development doesn't directly correlate with stress, we can assume they're more stressed to make a living.

Nobody wants to be stressed in their lives. It's a negative feeling we tend to avoid. Infact I would do anything to avoid stress. Yet with lobster philosophy we can understand how stress is an essential component in any successful story.

Stress is essential trigger for progress and change.

Imagine you lost your job. For some reason. Steve Jobs is a good example. He was sacked from his own company by his own board of directors. Imagine this happening to us. What would be your response? I wonder what my response would be. Can I be a lobster and find a cave, until I grow a new exoskeleton? Or would I just avoid the stress instead and lose the opportunity to grow be just a dead lobster?

If stress is an opportunity to grow, we can say routines are the killers of growth. But there is some truth and false in this. Routines that provide optimal stress will allow you to grow. But routines that just focus on pleasure will just make you stagnate in your life. I can give you an example.

Balancing stress is finding the flow. Lobster philosophy in action.

Routines: https://unsplash.com/@heftiba

Imagine you play the piano for the first time. There would be more stress at the beginning as there is no previous knowledge or the skill. But as you go on stress levels will reduce once your skills improve. And most of us would just fall into boringness and give up after certain skill level. There is no more stress. No more growth. Unless you push your limits deliberately by creating your own target. Maybe taking an extra class. Maybe teaching someone else. Maybe composing some music. Unless you push a little bit more you will die just an average lobster. So, the stress necessary for growth can be deliberately induced. Just like salt for a tasty soup. Just enough stress can make it tastier. But be careful not to overstress. We all know what will happen to the soup if someone accidently spill all the salt bottle into it. There you might even need professional help.

Navigation through life is difficult. As minds do not follow routines of steps not all the time. The paths we take in life are so much different from each other In unique ways. Yours is not similar to mine. So, there is no harm getting help. Falling back and even relaxing or taking a nap. If it means to sleep a couple of weeks maybe you should do that. A good clarity in mind is necessary to reach anywhere. And I hope fog in your life to be clear and have a better day tomorrow.

Maybe a little bit more time with nature in mindfulness would do better than a dozen pills to relieve some extra stress.