Shake it Off And Step Up

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard
        the mule braying. After carefully checking the situation, the farmer felt sorry for the mule, but decided that
        neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. Instead, he called his neighbors and friends together and
        told them what had happened. The farmer asked them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and
        put him out of his misery.
        At first, the old mule was hysterically braying, very upset! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued
        shoveling the dirt into the well, the dirt would hit his back, and a thought came to the donkey. It suddenly
        dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back: he should shake it off and step up!

        This is what the old mule did, shovel after shovel. "Shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up...
        shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.
        No matter how painful the dirt, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just
        kept right on shaking it off and stepping up! You guessed it! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and
        exhausted, stepped triumphantly right over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, actually
        end up blessing him. All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
 

 - Sent from Inspirational Short Stories (android app), https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inspirational.stories.personality.development