Be like the coffee bean

Heard this last fall and have re-iterated it to myself several times since. This is my interpretation, as I can't remember the lady's exact words. Plus, it's another reason to like coffee :)

A young lady was struggling with a lot of life's pressures, and went to her mom for advice. She explained how overwhelming everything was, and how frustrated she was with so many aspects of her current situation.

Her mother listened, then got up and began filling three pots with water. The daughter watched as her mother placed carrots in one pot, eggs in another, and coffee beans in the third. She placed all three pots on burners, and brought them to a boil.

The daughter asked what her mother was doing, and she replied to just wait, and she would explain.

After about 15 minutes, she removed the lids of each pot and turned off the stove. She told her daughter that when life is like a boiling pot of water, people react in three ways.

The first way they react is like the carrot. The boiling water turned it from a strong, crisp vegetable to a weak, limp and mushy version of its former self.

The eggs reacted by maintaining their tough outer shell, but they were changed on the inside. They lost their flexibility and became hard internally too, explained the mother. She added they can also crack easily, as she demonstrated and peeled back the shell.

Then the mother poured both her and her daughter a cup of coffee from the third pot. She explained that rather than the boiling water changing the coffee beans, they changed the water. The beans converted it from simply water into something that smells and tastes good, and is enjoyed by many. They improved the boiling water, as opposed to changing in reaction to it.

Be like the coffee bean, said the mother as they drank from their cups.