Like Tree Branches – Josh Journal
While listening to a podcast (like I often do) an idiom was used. It states that “if the tree didn’t want to be climbed, it would have evolved to grow without low branches.”
This piqued my interest.
Why? You ask.
Often, someone asks me why I get involved in projects that require my expertise but won’t pay. Why did I help out someone who has a history of letting me down? When will I stop allowing people to take my “favours” for granted?
There is the response of it is the “Christian thing” to do. Then there is the fact that I am me, and I won’t change because someone else has opted to be a “bottom barrel” human.
A tree tends to lose its lower branches to human activities. From climbing to outright cutting, the lower branches of a tree are constantly at the mercy of humans and other animals.
Biology teaches us that animals and plants evolve and adopt new traits to prevent extinction. When a plant or animal is constantly exposed to the same threat, it eventually starts to respond.
From plants learning to flower faster, to pointing all their flowers in a particular direction to aid pollination. Some trees even communicate and share nutrients through a network of roots within the soil.
In the midst of it all, their branches are still accessible.
Like the tree, I have evolved to value my time more. Committing my time is now exclusively for worthwhile endeavours, involving people who are decent and appreciative.
You can’t put together volunteers, then think it is right to come “stunt” on us.
As a volunteer, I show up on schedule, then you that requested my help stroll in thirty minutes late and expect me to be chilled about it.
The tree branches might be accessible to all, but they are not in a hurry to get broken.
So also, I am not in a hurry to be broken. To be wasted. Nor to be exploited.
I am not desperate to please. There is no point I need to prove to anyone.
If I’m valued, you will enjoy me. And if not, I will excuse myself.
My time is too valuable to be wasted on fortuitous gambles, led by incompetent glory hunters.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL
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