For many, retirement can be challenging. It’s like a wall that suddenly appears in front of you and blocks the path you’ve been walking along for so long. How do you react? What now?

Read this short story and find out which type you are!

The carrot, the egg, and coffee bean were sitting on the kitchen counter, about to face a very difficult challenge: one that meant that life as they knew it was about to change. They were about to face the dreaded pot of boiling water!

The carrot had always been strong, vibrant, and colorful. After facing and trying to resist the boiling water, the carrot came out dull, soft, and limp. The water was clearly the victor.

The egg was confident in the hard shell it had to protect its inner liquid nature, its real self. Upon facing the adversity of the water, however, the outer shell quickly cracked. Its inner self became hard, different, no longer fluid and liquid. The egg’s basic nature had been altered by the challenge of the water. Yet the water remained unchanged.

The coffee went into the boiling water but instead of attempting to resist or avoid the water, the coffee embraced it. By embracing the water and its adversity something interesting happened. The nature of the coffee indeed changed. But it was enhanced. The coffee, by embracing the adversity became something greater than it had been before, and for the first time, both the water and the coffee changed for the better.
The coffee, unlike the carrot or the egg, embraced the adversity and by so doing, used the adversity to reinvent itself.

So if the water is retirement, which are you – the carrot who goes limp, the egg who cracks and hardens, or the coffee, who embraces change and elevates both itself and its surroundings?

Did you like your answer?

Maybe you’d love to be that coffee bean but just aren’t there yet. Sometimes it helps to get centered and find your passion.

Or do you love inspirational talks?
Check out YouTube Channels like Get Inspired Talks or Motivation Hub. Ted Talks can also stir up some inspiration.

Do you like to read?
Find a biography of one of your heroes. Or check out books like Thriving Through Uncertainty by Tama Kieves, Becoming a Life Change Artist by Fred Mandell and Kathleen Jordan, or School of Greatness by Lewis Howes.