With all the challenges we face daily in the world, we thought we’d share a short story inspired by the “carrot, egg, and coffee” metaphor, illustrating different ways people push through adversity.
This parable reminds us that when we get into hot water, we can’t control what’s happening, but we can control our response and change the environment into something fabulous!
A young woman was facing some tough challenges in both her professional and personal lives and felt like giving up.
Tired of struggling, she visited her wise grandmother for support.
When she arrived, her grandma took her hand and guided her to the kitchen, lovingly offering her a seat at the table.
Without saying a word, the older woman filled three pots with water, placed carrots in the first, eggs in the second, and ground coffee beans in the third, boiling each for about 20 minutes.
When the time was up, she turned off the stove. She fished out one carrot and placed it in a bowl, then did the same with an egg. Finally, she poured the coffee into a mug and looked at her granddaughter.
“Tell me, what do you see?” she asked. “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” the young woman replied, slightly confused.
The grandmother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noticed they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled as she smelled its rich aroma and tasted its rich flavor.
The young woman looked at her grandma and asked, “But, what does it mean?”
“Look closer,” her grandmother said. “Each of these faced the same boiling water, but each reacted differently.”
The carrot, once hard, became soft and weak. The egg, fragile at first, hardened on the inside. But the coffee beans did something remarkable — they transformed the water.
The grandmother smiled. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you like the carrot that becomes weak, the egg that hardens, or the coffee beans that turn the challenge into something beautiful?”
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects faced the same adversity – an environment boiling over – but each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard and unyielding. However, after the root vegetables were exposed to boiling water, they softened and became weak.
In its pure form, the egg was fragile – a thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior. But, after sitting in the bubbling hot water, it became hardened and stiff inside.
The coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water.
“Which are you?” the grandmother asked the young woman, who still looked confused. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
What are you?
Are you the carrot, egg or coffee bean?
The carrot seems strong but, with pain and adversity, it wilts, becomes soft and yields to the heat. Do you tend to give up your power when faced with challenges?
The egg starts with a fragile shell protecting a soft heart that becomes hard with the heat. When faced with a challenge, does your shell look the same while your fluid spirit becomes unrecognizable and your heart hardened?
Or are you the coffee bean? When the water gets hot, the bean transforms itself and the water into something more beautiful, filling the air with its perky aromas and flavors. While the bean does change, its response to the water – the very environment that brings the pain – is something fantastic.
If you are the bean, when life hits a boiling point, instead of becoming soft or hard, you elevate to another level and change the space around you.
The message of this story is that we cannot control the events that occur in our lives, but we can control our response to them. So, when you find yourself in some proverbial hot water, don’t let the heat change who you are. Instead, respond in a way that has a positive impact and be the perky bean that motivates many people!
