How to Handle Growth and Change: A Lesson from Lobsters

As I’m winding down today, I wanted to share with you my thoughts about the lobster story. I know most of you know it already but it’s been on my mind all day.

 

Growth can be hard…

For those of you that don’t know, a lobster is a really soft and mushy animal when prepared. They’re delicious for they live inside this rigid and hard shell that protects them from other predatory animals in the ocean.

The body grows inside the shell but the shell doesn’t grow so it gets cramped inside there and the lobster becomes increasingly uncomfortable. When it gets too confined, they go under a rock structure or something to cast off the shell and grow a new one. When they come back out, they move on with their lives.

So at different growing points throughout their lives, they have to do that again and again and again. It resonated with me thinking about my own life and how often this happens.

I think we’re all going through this time of great adversity so if you’re feeling uncomfortable and confined, recognize this as signal for growth. It’s a signal to challenge us to think differently, to think bigger and better.

So I just wanted to let you know I appreciate that and to remind you that we have a lot in common with lobsters. Let’s just shake the shell off and go.