Lessons Learned from Hi5 Story of Doodle Dot Farm

While browsing YouTube for children stories, I came across a storytelling segment of Hi5, a famous children’s show. The story goes like this:

There was a farm called Doodle Dot farm and there lived three farm animals: Hetty the Hen, Rover the Dog and Creamy the Cow. One day, the three animals were arguing over who worked the hardest: Rover said he has the hardest job rounding up sheep. Hetty disagreed and said hers was the hardest as she has to concentrate for a long time to give Farmer Doodle Dot the eggs he was expecting. Creamy said that making milk is the hardest because she has to chew hay all day. They were making much noise that Farmer Doodle Dot came in to check on them. When the farmer left, Hetty had an idea. She suggested that they exchange jobs. Rover will try laying eggs, Creamy will round up the sheep and Hetty will have a go at making milk. The animals agreed and went on to do their new job. Moments later Farmer Doodle Dot went back and was surprised to see the animals jumbled up. He thought he was imagining things so he left to get some rest. Hetty asked Rover if he laid any eggs yet, Rover said he hasn’t despite sitting very still. Hetty said she cannot eat more hay to make milk, either. They both went out to see how Creamy was doing rounding up sheep only to find the cow mooing and the sheep not moving at all. In the end, the three animals all acknowledged that each of their jobs is tough and they all agreed to go back to their original jobs. Later, Farmer Doodle Dot was happy to find the animals back to their own places.

This story may be directed to children but you know what, I realized adults can learn something from it too. These are the lessons I’ve learned:

1. I know this may sound cliché but, each of us is unique. Just like in our story, where we have 3 different animals doing different jobs to reach different end results, we live with the same principle. We are our own person, we have different skills and talents and we serve different purposes in life. Recall that our farm animals exchanged their jobs with each other but they realized they cannot do it. There are things only you can do. Other people can try to be you but they cannot be you.
2. Comparing wastes time and energy. It is a dragging feeling that will lead you to nothing but self-pity. It distracts you from what you are supposed to do. If our farm animals in the story didn’t argue, the chicken could’ve concentrated more and laid more eggs, the dog would’ve finished rounding the sheep earlier and the cow could’ve chewed more hay and produced more milk.
3. As someone who has spent 6 years in the corporate world, becoming a stay at home mom was a difficult transition. To be honest, I had several episodes of depression and have never felt so insecure in my entire life. Social media even made it worse. Then I came to understand that I should stop comparing my worst days to other people’s best days. It is never a fair comparison, it isn’t taking me anywhere and I needed to get out of this black hole. 
4. The truth is, no matter what we do, we are always ahead of some and behind others. The best thing you could do is to invest in yourself. Think of ways on how to be a better version of you every day.

Funny how children stories like this can make an adult learn new things. Have you been comparing yourself before? Or have you been comparing until now? I would love to hear your stories.

Tagged: children story, comparing yourself with others, lessons learned, motherhood, motivational