Killer Caterpillars

Growing up on a farm, I quickly learned I could make my sister jump into another state by throwing a wooly caterpillar at her. As it turns out, I learned a powerful life lesson from, you guessed it, caterpillars. And the lesson happened entirely by accident.

I have always read anything I could get my hands on, hoping to find a shard of knowledge to use to my advantage. I found a particular article that discussed a critter called the Processionary Caterpillar. The article pointed out that while fish, birds, and most animals rely strictly on instinct to survive, humans have the unique ability to reason, plan, and adapt. Unfortunately, humans often act like the unthinking, lower forms of life.

Enter the processionary caterpillar. French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre studied this unique little furry insect in great detail. At first, his friends thought that maybe Jean had too much time on his hands until he conducted one wacky but essential experiment. He discovered that what makes this caterpillar special is its instinct to follow the caterpillar in front of it. This behavior, we learn, is a deadly characteristic.

Fabre’ demonstrated this deadly behavior with a simple experiment. He took a flowerpot and placed several caterpillars in a single file around the circumference of the pot’s rim. Each caterpillar’s head touched the caterpillar in front of it. Fabre then places the caterpillars’ favorite food in the middle of the circle created by the caterpillars’ procession around the rim of the flowerpot. Each caterpillar followed the one ahead, thinking it was heading for the food. Round and round they went for seven days! After a week of this mindless activity, the caterpillars died due to exhaustion and starvation. All they had to do to avoid death was stop the senseless circling of the flowerpot and head straight to the food less than six inches away. However, the processionary caterpillars were locked into this lifestyle and couldn’t extricate themselves from the mindless and deadly behavior.

Have you ever felt like the processionary caterpillar? We alone can change our direction in life. It’s sad to say, though, that some of us do and some don’t. One mentor told me, “We confuse motion with meaning; we confuse activity with achievement.” We can quickly get into ruts and, eventually, unconsciously get stuck. We get stuck and frustrated, which affects work, school, and home. And yes, these ruts become vicious circles, with our lives going round and round while we expect results to change.

Here are a few thoughts on getting out of your rut.

1. Don’t follow the crowd. Think on your own. Create your own opinions on things. It’s ok. It’s legal.
2. Distance yourself from negative people. I call them success vampires. These are people who constantly gripe, moan, groan, and complain about something, everything. People with bad vibes cause bad vibes. Please stay away from them. You might have to consider finding different, like-minded friends if they’re your friends.
3. Distance yourself from negative people and things. There is more negativity in the air today than ever before in history. Being informed is one thing, but allowing it to change your emotional state, mindset, and attitude is another.
4. Stop dwelling on the WHAT-IFs of life and focus on the WHAT-IS. We cannot do anything about most of life’s what-ifs. Letting them infect you creates a Survival mindset, where your entire life is focused on just getting by.  In turn, reverse that thinking and strive to adopt a Possibility Look for the possibilities in everything. Possibilities are the things that we can control and that we can do something about. Let me remind you that in the worst of times over the last one hundred years, much of the populace was pulling out their hair and scared about what might happen. But, at the same time, more millionaires were made than at any other time in history. Some people worried about what might happen, and others looked for opportunities.

The bottom line is to never fall in line with the killer caterpillars of life. Break away and see the possibilities. While everyone else goes in circles, you’re running hard, unimpeded, breaking new trails and seeing new possibilities straight toward incredible success.