Yesterday I was in Northampton, on a small farm with some sheep, goats chickens etc. Spending some quality time with my boyfriend and his family.
In the afternoon, I took myself off for a thirty minute walk around the fields to get some fresh air and appreciate how pretty it is around there (it really is, and I grew up in Wales so if you can chance, you should visit). Now as I approached the field I noticed all the chickens and ducks and goats milling around, looking for bits of food. They got rather excited when they saw me, apple in hand (hey – 30mins is a long time…and I might have got lost and needed a snack…) and wandered slowly over calling me to let me know they were coming.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to give them the apple then and there, but took my walk and came back with a core, bitten into bits for the goats. The goats took a while to come over to me and by the time they had there were a few chickens around as well, having heard the calls from the goats.
I threw the bits on the floor but as the goats tried to pick them up, taking their time, having a good sniff at them first, guess what?
THE CHICKENS NIPPED IN AND STOLE ALL THE CORE – RIGHT FROM UNDER THEIR NOSES!
The goats seemed a bit sad, and followed me back to the gate, hoping some more apple would magically appear, but I couldn’t do anything, they had missed their chance.
So what’s the moral of the story here?
If you get wind of an opportunity, if your gut tells you this is it, if it looks like an apple and smells like an apple, get in there quickly and eat it like an apple!
If you don’t trust yourself and the opportunity, you’ll end up sniffing around it, checking things out, doubting yourself, and before you know it some clever chicken (or person, either way) will come along and snap it up, leaving you feeling a little hard-done-to, wondering if there’s any more opportunities lying around, like the one you just missed.
Your gut’s a funny thing, it always knows what is right. Get used to listening to it and trusting it, and follow it always. It rarely steers you wrong.