This is one of our favorite stories at Authentic Life Concepts:
Once upon a time there was a pig. One day the pig decided to be someone else. He chose to pretend he was a dog. The pig stood in the kitchen wagging his tail. Suddenly his tail got caught in the fan. The fan twisted his tail into a corkscrew (you always wondered how that happened, didn’t you?). So there stood the pig pretending to be dog when along came a giant. The giant took one look at the pig and picked him up and used the pig’s tail to open his bottle of wine. He laid the pig on the counter-top with the cork still on his tail and went his way. Just then, the pig’s wife came in. She saw the pig and said,
“Hi, Ham. How are you?”
The pig answered his wife, “Alright.”
“How did your day go?” she said.
“Typical,” Ham replied.
His wife asked, “What did you do today?”
Ham, the pig answered, “The usual.”
The wife queried, “How’d that go for you?”
The pig answered, “Alright.”
The wife continued, “Well, Ham, did you accomplish anything you are proud of?”
The pig couldn’t think of anything.
So, there he was, a pig on the counter-top with a cork on his tail and no accomplishments to brag to his wife about.
The pig’s troubles started when he pretended to be someone he wasn’t. The trouble continued when random acts and circumstances took control. He found himself having been used by another. He found himself in a situation that didn’t fit him or serve him. He found himself unable to report any accomplishment or feel particularly good about himself. As he reported to his wife, this conduct was “usual” with “typical” results.
At Authentic Life Concepts we believe that every person is unique in all of time and place. Every person is similar to all others, but identical to none. We believe every person is unique, valuable, capable, and with a purpose in life. Every person ultimately fulfills himself/herself best and adds the most value to community and life, by being that unique person he/she was born to be.
Don’t end up a pig on the countertop with a cork on your tail! Set up a better set of circumstances to increase the chances of good things happening to you. Start every day being authentically you.