Grow Like a Lobster
A Florida Spiny Lobster
Sub-par performance chasing spiny lobster for dinner in the Florida Keys prompted further introspection on growth and strategy. Lobsters are a salient reminder that growth happens when you leave your comfort zone. Humans should embrace our discomfort zone and utilize adversity as an opportunity to grow.
Lobsters grow by molting (shedding) their shell when they become confining and uncomfortable for their soft, invertebrate bodies. They hide from predators under rock or coral outcroppings while they grow a new shell. Lobsters may shed their shell (carapace) twenty-five times in the first five to seven years of life, around the time they reach legal limit length and size (about one pound). After maturity, they may molt their shells approximately once per year.
Dr. Abraham Twerski contemplated the lives of lobsters in the short, thought-provoking video below.
"If lobsters had doctors they would never grow... Times of stress are also times that are signals for growth, and if we use adversity properly, we can grow through adversity. The stimulus for the lobster to grow is that it feels uncomfortable."
- Dr. Abraham Twerski
For humans, “Stress and discomfort enable gains in speed, strength, and endurance… Although difficult, our achievements from our struggles will build self-confidence and self-efficacy.” Like the lobster that molts its shell many times over its life, practice makes perfect in humans. “Staying in your discomfort zone can work like a muscle and help you build emotional resilience.”
Experiencing challenging situations may also signal that you are navigating uncharted territories others have neglected to venture into. In his book, Linchpin, Seth Godin writes, “Discomfort means you're doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they're hiding out in the comfortable zone.”
To continue growing, humans should stay uncomfortable and leverage moments of adversity. If you practice molting your shell often enough, it becomes a habit.
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