I recently heard the story of the farmer and his donkey (author unknown). It holds such great lessons that I had to share it.

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out a way to get him out. Finally the farmer decided it was probably impossible. The animal was old and the well was dry anyway, so it just wasn’t worth it to try and retrieve the donkey. So the farmer asked his neighbors to come over and help him cover up the well. They all grabbed shovels and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey cried horribly when he realized what was happening. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down and let out some happy brays. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well to see what was happening and was astonished by what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was shaking it off and taking a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he continued to shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, to everyone’s amazement, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Every adversity can be turned into a stepping stone. The way to get out of the deepest well is by never giving up but by shaking yourself off and taking a step up. What happens to you isn’t nearly as important as how you react to it.

Other lessons from this story:

• Sometimes crazy ideas turn out to be great solutions
• Decisions we make can have unintended consequences (good or bad)
• Sometimes people act in the way they think best without considering what’s best for you. It can still turn out to be exactly what you needed.

What problems have you overcome that led you somewhere better than you expected?