052 When the Tide Goes Out
Hey Mudskipper, when the tide goes out, you don't wait for the water to return. You walk across the mud on your fins and breathe the air.
What do we do when the tide goes out?
What do you do when the tide goes out?
Low tide in the Sundarbans. The water has pulled back, leaving shining mud between the mangrove roots.
On the mud, a small fish props itself up on its front fins and walks.
What really happens
Mudskippers are fish that spend much of their time out of water.
They move on their strong front fins, and they can breathe through their skin and the lining of their mouth while on land, as long as they stay moist.
How we know: Mudskipper biology is well studied; they are found in mangroves across Asia, including India.
The turn
When the tide goes out on us, a job ends, money dries up, a door closes, we often just wait for the water to return.
The mudskipper learned to live on the mud.
Three takeaways
- Do not wait for the old conditions to come back.
- Learn to move in the world as it is.
- Adapting is a skill, not a defeat.
When the water leaves, walk.
The mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act.