Expanding Your Box

Hermit crabs, unlike lobsters and the like, don’t have their own hard shell. They have their own exoskeleton but it’s too soft and vulnerable to protect them from predators. They have, then, evolved to borrow other shells which they can change as their circumstances deem fit. However, not every hermit crab is designed the same. Some stick with the same shell for long periods of time, some change frequently, and some never do. 

What am I doing here talking about hermit crabs? Well, just like them, we, humans, also have our own shells that we pick up as we grow up. Let’s call these shells as “boxes.” This doesn’t just refer to physical changes that we undergo as we age, but our mindset, beliefs, and habits as well. We are born into an environment with specific traditions and beliefs that have shaped the person we were. We continue to do the same thing in the same pattern with the same people. Our actions are informed by the mindset that has been fostered in the routine and environment you are part of. As time passes by, we grow more and more comfortable with this kind of familiarity. 

However, as we grow up, we also have the opportunity to enter and explore other environments that are different from what we are accustomed to. And most of the time this is also a call for change. There will come a time that what you are comfortable with won’t work anymore. Especially in the road to building wealth, changing previous habits and beliefs is necessary in order to progress. If you want a different reality, then you need to change the beliefs you hold, the thoughts you think, and the actions you take. For hermit crabs, this transition period of leaving their shell to inhabit a different one is an extremely vulnerable period. Humans are like that as well. It’s a risk, but it’s one that you take if you want to live a healthier lifestyle, a wealthier life, and to grow and develop into the person who you are meant to be.