Shake it off and step up.

( Stories Retold )

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into an abandoned well. For hours, the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided that the animal was pretty old and the well needed to be covered up anyway.

So he grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realising what was happening, the donkey at first wailed horribly. Then all of a sudden it quieted down completely.

The farmer peered down into the well, and was surprised to see that with every shovelful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt.

So it continued.

As each new shovel full of dirt would hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and step up. Up into freedom.

Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.

…
Life is going to shovel a lot of dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. It depends on you whether you’ll let it bury you or use it as a stepping stone to come out of the well.

Just don’t give up!
Shake it off and take a step up!