She lay in the grass, eyes toward the sky feeling the soft slightly damp earth beneath her. She did not remember how long she had been lying there thoughts drifting along with the clouds. Had it been minutes, hours, or perhaps days? Somehow, it no longer mattered. She had just decided to stop. The relentless forward movement and the frenetic pace – she was over it. The others had passed her by unaware of her decision as they continued to press on with increasing force in pursuit of …the carrot.
Like them, she had wanted that carrot too. It had haunted her days and nights dangling from that blasted string. So often she had been so close and as she stretched forth her hands to capture her prize, it moved once again. Then today suddenly, she had simply stopped reaching for it. She had not planned to stop but in one split second had simply made the decision. As the crowd thinned around her, she sat, and then lay in the grass listening to the stillness, allowing the quiet to engulf her.
Conditioned to covet the carrot she had forsaken all others in pursuit of the prize. After all EVERYONE wants the carrot. So, for years as it dangled just out of reach she kept moving toward it with a laser sharp focus. She stepped over piles of manure and around boulders as kept the carrot in focus. Often the prize dangled closer and she stretched to capture it only to have it move once again.
The day she stopped, she realized they were wrong. She did not want the carrot at all. In fact, capturing the carrot would have been a huge disappointment. Her brows knit in a furrow as she thought of their ploy. Without thinking, she had been lured into a senseless maze by something she truly did not desire. She shook her head and arose from her spot on the grass. With a deep breath, she turned and walked in the other direction. She finally knew what she wanted and it was not that carrot.
The age-old carrot and stick metaphor originated with the tale of a boy who used a carrot and stick to keep a donkey moving forward. The carrot hung just out of reach, a desired reward that encouraged the animal to keep moving forward. The reward kept moving and so did the donkey.
Have you ever found yourself in pursuit of a carrot only to discover it is not really what you wanted? What did you do?