Beyond Today
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Home
Bridging Leadership Lessons from the Workplace and Those Experiences Shaping Today's Youth and Tomorrow's Leaders

beyond today

Leaders growing together

Embracing Value in the Imperfections: Seashells and People

2/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last summer in the midst of the Covid pandemic, my wife and I had a quick getaway to Naples Florida. As you can imagine, I don’t spend a lot of time “laying out” when I go to the beach. While I do enjoy the opportunity to relax and read, I can spend countless hours walking the shore looking for shells and rocks that catch my eye.

One morning as I walked in the water finding shells, I began to wonder what attracted me to some shells versus others. I noticed that while the shells may be of similar style, they were all unique in their own way. I also realized that sometimes I would throw back the broken ones and other times, it would be the one I most cherished on that specific search.

As the tide would change I could go deeper and find those shells that were less damaged on their journey to the shore, but there was risk as you waded deeper in the ever elusive search for the perfect shell.

But perfect is a perception. You look at one side of the shell and it appears perfect but as you turn it over, you see that the shell has sustained significant damage. But does this take away from the Beauty? You turn it back and the beauty still exists...  despite the imperfections. Or is it even more beautiful because of the imperfections?

The beauty and uniqueness of the shells are created by the challenges of the sea. The journey they take to get to the shore. Similar to the journey that has brought you to where you are today. By the history of the paths you travel to get to your shore. The trauma. The turmoil of the waves crashing around you. Obstacles. The coral reefs and rocks are immovable and redirect the path of the shell in the waves. Enemies. Animals attempting to see what is inside of you… to take you as their own.

Each shell means something different to the person viewing the shell. Some like the colors or the shapes. Some like the small, petite, and fragile shells while others like the strong, solid shells. Some like those that are symmetric while others like those that stand out with their uniqueness.

What these shells remind us of or what we see in the shell is how we derive our value.  A value that is unique to us, just as every shell is unique from the others. Recognizing that each shell has value in its own way is important but appreciating the value that each shell possesses is what is needed to get you Beyond Today.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Author

    Tom Brown - a husband and a father who is simply trying to make a difference. Using my experience as a  Manufacturing Executive to connect leadership from the boardroom to the hardwood to help  teams grow and develop to make a difference in the lives of others.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020

    Categories

    All
    Coaching Sports
    Leading At Work

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by Iserve2lead
Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos from nodstrum, shixart1985 (CC BY 2.0), objectfox, wuestenigel, focusonmore.com, wuestenigel (CC BY 2.0), wuestenigel, nodstrum, rvcroffi, shixart1985, JoanDragonfly, wuestenigel, Artotem, www.ilmicrofono.it, Llima, The National Guard, wuestenigel, Paul L Dineen, stevepaustin, wuestenigel, CDay DaytimeStudios w /1.7 Million views