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Reflection Title: The Sherman Transformation!

Book – Running with Sherman: The Donkey with a Heart of a Hero by Christopher McDougall (Part 2 of 3)

Reflection:
I think I want a donkey after reading this book!

Donkeys seem like such unique and amazing animals filled colorful personalities that will keep you always on your toes and always guessing why they are doing what they are doing. That is…when they are healthy!

When we first met Sherman, he was not healthy. This poor donkey had been stripped of everything that made him a donkey. His past owner had traumatized the poor guy, locked him in a tiny shed, and his tiny little donkey soul slowly stripped from him through these compounding actions. When the McDougall’s first met Sherman, his donkey spirit had been badly broken and damaged which had caused a number of other cascading health issues that made Sherman’s situation dire (life and death). They didn’t know if he would survive the first few days with them and had no idea what to do.

By the end of the book, only a few months after this initial meeting, Sherman was a healthy and happy little donkey on a mission tackling a big challenge, playing with his friends, and touching people’s hearts with his amazing turnaround. So, what changed? How did we go from a damaged, unhealthy, traumatized, and near-death donkey that would hardly even move an inch to one that was running a 15-mile marathon at 10,000 feet in Colorado less than a year later?

The answer, The McDougall’s and their friends devised an ingenious plan to help restore Sherman’s purpose in hopes that it would heal his wounds that had built up over the years. They did this by giving him a job to do and friends to do it with. Spoiler…IT WORKED! Purpose was all it took to go from death’s door to thriving.

Purpose is powerful. Purpose can help you overcome the toughest conditions, pain, and trauma. Purpose is focus. Purpose is energy, it is life, it is joy, it is fulfillment, it is…everything.

Every life form in this world has a purpose whether they like it or not. You can try to run from it with dire consequences, like we saw with Achilles in The Song of Achilles. Others can try and steal your purpose, like we saw with Sherman’s previous owners. No matter what, purpose remains whether you like it, seek it, or even want it. I can’t remember which book I heard this quote in, but it is so true, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Sadly, I feel like a lot of us in this world today relate well with the sick version of Sherman. We’ve allowed are owners to unknowingly strip us of our purpose. I don’t believe this is intentional on either part, but it is true nonetheless. Humans have never been more purposeless in this world, in my opinion. We are saddled with debt, trapped in our cubicles, stressed, anxious, further detached from the world than ever before with social media, don’t understand ourselves, and filled with sadness, pain, and depression. We’ve been stripped of our purpose and in doing so not bringing forth what is inside of us is slowly destroying us…just like sick Sherman.

Unfortunately for us, we all don’t have a family like the McDougall’s to take us in and help to restore our purpose like they did with Sherman. However, that is the beauty of humanity, we don’t necessarily need someone else to “fix” us and restore our purpose. We have the tools inside of us to find our own path, discover our own unique journey, and fix ourselves. Through our imaginations, we can create whatever world we want to create. Our purpose is only limited by what you can dream up and bring forth in this world.

To become healthy humans again, the process is fairly simple. Start by reigniting you imagination, your curiosity, ask questions, explore, and define what is most important to you in this world. Once you’ve found what is important to you…do it! Let those values be your guide and you will find your purpose…I promise. It is really that easy and so worth it.

Hopefully this journey can serve as your McDougall’s and help you to find this path for yourself.

Question: How are you working to bring forth what is within you into this world?