Even a Chicken Can Lay Eggs

Recently I was feeling particularly anxious. It was not just in my head, it was in my bones… It was not just one thing, it was a hundred problems that felt bigger than I was. All at once. The fear and anxiety had built up inside me… until I just felt paralyzed.

“How did I become such a chicken?” I thought. 

Yet in the midst of feeling petrified, a silly thought occurred to me - why am I comparing myself to a chicken? And how did chickens become associated with fear anyway?  

I turned to google to distract myself and found that calling someone “a chicken” dates as far back as the 1600s. In fact, the English language itself often reduces animals overall into a single trait as a metaphor for human behavior.

If we are like sheep, we are blind conformists. Donkeys are stubborn, and a jackass is worse. Owls are wise, but I have never in my life referred to a person as “wise as an owl.” Though when my father was alive, I used to think that an owl was his spirit animal. Maybe it was his glasses, or the fact that he was super bright and super disciplined and passionate about his work. (Love you dad, please do not curse me from the afterlife.)

Then I asked the internet what are the positive qualities of chickens? The answer I got (paraphrase here): Chickens represent care, paying attention, protecting what’s small (presumably their chicks), showing up every day, and choosing safety over spectacle. That’s not fear - that’s wisdom rooted in survival and love.

But what struck me is what was missing from this answer: chickens lay eggs, and they tend to lay a lot of them.  And everyday as humans we have ideas. Occasionally we may even have an idea that could change our lives... if we actually take action on it.

This made me think that even if we are terrified, we can give birth to new ideas. We can create in the face of destruction, sadness or even terror, right alongside fear.

Even chickens can lay eggs. 

How many times as humans do we get inspiration, an exciting idea, but we sit on it until it becomes a distant memory? And how often in a moment of fear do we reduce ourselves to all the negative thoughts we are having?

More to the point, how do we build the courage and strength to create? To make the space for ideas - to be propelled by ideas that move us deeply, and make changes in our lives, when there’s a shit storm in our lives? How do we do this when we are afraid, or even terrified?

Maybe it’s one egg at a time. 

Here are some things that have helped me that I try to remember, and some of them definitely overlap:

• If you have a passionate purpose or a compelling idea you deeply connect with, whether it’s a personal lifelong dream, or perhaps you think of the mouths you have to feed, these things can push you to act on them despite the fear. Find that passion and it will give you that reason - it will move you to action.

• When I focus on small victories rather than perfectionism, big goals or comparison to others, it returns the locus of control inward, and reminds me I can make a difference with each action I take - each day. This in itself can give me the strength to persevere, to show up - even under adversity. 

• When we have a concept of ourselves as beings that by nature are creative, that we create by instinct, this can return us to a sense of autonomy and belief in our ability to impact the world. For me, I feel like the world makes more sense when I am creating something, whether or not anyone sees it. There is something about the creative act itself that is a form of self-care.

• Remember to reach out. Find a safe space to talk and share. As guys, we can sometimes lose sight of the fact that we can call a friend and that it may make us feel better to do so. Or we can reach out to whatever community is available, or even therapy. There is no shame in this. This can change how we perceive the world from being an isolated place to one where we are connected, and can make us feel stronger.

• We can give ourselves a break.  Sometimes taking a day or two off can help us recharge and regroup, and reconnect with that source within, that source from which we create and express who we are.

Even chickens can lay eggs. We can be terrified and still do amazing things. We can take action on ideas that inspire us, and and in one moment we can change the way we see the world.

Respect and props to the animal kingdom, and to each one of us taking each step every day in this human race. I wish you strength, and I am right there with you on this journey.