Life Lessons from a Baby Giraffe: Learning to Stand Tall
Life Lessons from a Baby Giraffe
Baby giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life — a lesson that all of us would do well to remember.
The Birth of a Baby Giraffe
The birth of a baby giraffe is literally an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move. The mother giraffe lovingly lowers its neck to kiss the baby giraffe. And then something incredible happens.
The First Lesson: Learning to Stand
The mother giraffe lifts one long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down to the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again. And again. Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and, for the first time, learns to stand on its feet.
Another Kick for Resilience
Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick. The baby giraffe falls one more time but now quickly recovers and stands up. Mama Giraffe is delighted. It knows that its baby has learned an important lesson: no matter how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet.
Why Does the Mother Giraffe Do This?
The mother giraffe knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack, it cannot survive. It also knows that the lessons we learn early on become part of our habits and instincts and stand us in good stead throughout our lives.
The Human Condition: A Lack of Tough Love
Most of us, though, are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up. No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we must learn to get back on our feet.
The Road to Success
If you study the lives of successful people, you will see a recurring pattern. Were they always successful in all they did? No. Did success come to them quickly and easily? No again. You will find that the common streak running through their lives is their ability to stand up every time they fall — the same ability that the baby giraffe acquires.
Learning from the Baby Giraffe
The road to success is never an easy one. There are several obstacles, and you are bound to fall sooner or later. You will hit a roadblock; you will taste failure. But success lies in being able to get up every time you fall. That’s a critical life skill that all successful people have internalised.
Learning to Win: Like Riding a Bicycle
Learning to win in life is quite like learning to ride a bicycle. When you start to ride, you might fall and get bruised. It doesn’t matter. You need to get back up and continue to ride. Fall one more time? Get back up again. That’s all it takes. Learn to get back up every time you fall.
Receiving Tough Love from Mentors
So the next time you find a supervisor or a parent kicking you, don’t get upset with them. Like the mother giraffe, they may only be trying to teach you one of life’s most important lessons. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. Your ability to pick yourself up and stand on your feet once again matters.
Embracing the Role of the Mother Giraffe as a Leader
As a leader, one should learn to play the role of the mother giraffe. Handling new team members with kid gloves isn’t necessarily a great idea. Throw that new intern into the deep end. Push him out of his comfort zone. And he just might learn valuable lessons that will be handy for the rest of his life!
The Value of Early Lessons
The lessons we learn early on become part of our habits and instincts and stand us in good stead throughout our lives. An important lesson to learn is this: never mind how hard you fall. Always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet.
