Ever feel like this little Dung Beetle? Shovelling dung three times your size? It may seem a daunting task for this little beetle, but he offers us some valuable tips for when the going gets tough.
This weekend we spent time in the Addo Elephant Park in the Eastern Cape, home to over 600 elephants. Can you imagine all the dung that is dropped daily? With so many elephants, the Elephant Dung Beetle is a vital piece of the park. Instead of focusing only on the beautiful giants, I zoomed in on this little beetle. Marcus Byrne and Helen Lunn in their excellent book, Dance of the Dung Beetles (2019), describe the recycling of elephant dung by this humble little dung beetle. Using their heads shaped like a spade, the beatles’ pat and roll the dung creating a ball. They then use their hind legs to move/roll the ball a fair distance to where they bury it. A huge task!
This improves soil structure and fertility, aeration and moisture, creating the ideal germination situation. Seeds buried in the elephant dung bed have a much greater chance of taking root to grow into huge trees.
So when you feel like you are struggling with a task that seems immeasurably larger than you, perhaps a steep bank looming, and at times you are lying on your back with your feet in the air… don’t give up. Be like the beetle.
Lesson One: The Dung Beetle has a head shaped like a spade. Dig deep. What resources do you have that you can bring to the surface? We all have more resources and strengths within us than we think. In our Resilience Essentials Course we call this smart move “Fill Up Your Bucket”. Tap into your wellspring of resilience. Bring those resources that you have used successfully to tackle challenges in the past, to the surface.
Lesson Two: The Dung Beetle is super committed to his task. Winston Churchill is famous for his ‘never never give up’ speech. Sometimes we are so close to succeeding but we don’t know it and we give up. Our dung balls come in different shapes and sizes and bring different levels of discomfort and pain. No one can tell you when to quit or if you ever should quit, but think like a beetle and see what happens.
Lesson Three: The Dung Beetle pauses when on his back. When he tumbles off the dung ball, he lies on his back with his legs in the air and you think he is done for. I even stopped filming him. But just as I was about to walk away, he righted himself, headed back and tackled the ball again. Give yourself a moment. But don’t lose sight of the purpose…
Lesson Four: The Dung Beetle serves an amazing purpose. This crazy little creature is an essential cog in the big wheel of life. His very existence enables a giant elephant to eat the green leaves of a tree that his dung bed produced. Be like the beetle. Perhaps you have a much greater purpose than you think!
(Watch the reel of this little chap hard at work on our FB Reels)
#resilience #wellbeing #change