I watched this video too many times.
It’s super cute but it’s also a great example of how important it is to keep moving forward, always putting one foot in front of the other.
When the bunny starts it has confidence from its person. She nudges him and he happily and confidently hops away. But without her he runs out of gas. As soon as he stops he becomes distracted by the noise around him.
The longer the bunny stays in one place, the more fearful he becomes. When he tries to move forward the noise around him elevates and he cowers instead of pushing on. We all want him to start hopping, but the bunny doesn’t know that’s what the noise is about, he becomes scared and now he’s stuck and confused.
There is no amount of reassurance the person can give the bunny to get it back on track and moving forward again until maybe the noise and distraction fade away.
The tortoise is self propelled and he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t allow himself to become distracted. He doesn’t let the chaos around him affect his journey. He is focused on moving forward and he doesn’t stop to see what everyone else is doing. He doesn’t wear himself out, or move so fast that he gets ahead of himself. So he doesn’t become stuck or scared, he just slowly continues forward and sure footed.
We don’t see the tortoise as being selfish, or uncaring or hurtful because he’s not checking on everything around him. We see him as steadfast, purposeful, and consistent.
Life is full of noise and distractions. They pull you off course and become scary if you look at them too long.
Pick a direction and purposefully move forward, it’s less scary and less risky than being stuck in one place.
And who knows? At the end, you might even win the race