Sandcastle Theory

I frequently struggle with accepting the help of others. In schoolwork, projects and in my relationships, I always believe I can handle everything on my own. That’s why I’m always the one to do my own work, lead the group projects, and push people away when things get too hard.

And when I was laying out on a beach in Belize looking out into the horizon, I looked to my right and started messing with the sand. Building a sandcastle (in reality it was just a pile of sand), I started to use the sand surrounding this area to build a tall mound. This pile would now stand out and above because I scooped all the sand together to help this “castle”.

But then I reworked my sandcastle concept. I flattened the sand and started from scratch. I began to push away the surrounding sand creating a moat. By doing this, I made this “sandcastle” appear to be tall and strong, but it wasn’t. It only seemed that way because there was hardly any sand to get near this “castle”. Some people are similar to these types of sandcastles. They think they are strong and self-sufficient, but in actuality they have neither grown nor helped themselves. This sandcastle is the same height as before the only difference is it has pushed away the help of surrounding sand.

And maybe if we accepted the support of our friends, family, partners, and coworkers we could scoop that sand to build ourselves higher than ever before. I am guilty of creating a moat, but everyday I am learning to fill it with much more sand by communicating, being loving, and understanding that not everything is up to me or needs to be led by me alone without partners. I, and everyone else in this world, cannot do everything without other people.