Use What You Got
One of the first things we noticed on our first game drive was that some of the trees had their outer layer ripped off leaving the core of the trunk exposed. The trees looked like giant peeled bananas.
Our guide explained that those were the Marula trees that produce flowers, sweet fruit, and sap. The local tribed called “Venda” use the Marula trees to make an alcoholic drink, coffee, brown dye color, anti-malaria medicine, and ropes. They also use the tree as a medium to communicate with their ancestors.
And the elephants love the Marula tree’s sweet fruit, but it’s the males who are destroying the trees. They tear off the outer layers with their tusks and then knock down trees. Some of this is done to show off in front of the ladies.
Since water moves through the outer layer and not the roots as with other trees, they die once the bark is peeled off. Seeing so many dead Marula trees throughout the savannah is a sad sight.
The population of elephants in South Africa has exploded thanks in large part to the ban on hunting them and other conservation efforts. We crossed paths with one herd of elephants that had about 40 members in this family. The ground shooked so much it felt like a train passing by.
Despite the destruction of so many of these beautiful Marula trees, the guide explained that one of the benefits was that the bare branches give vultures a place to rest, watch, and wait from.
Nothing Goes to Waste
Those dead Marula trees give vultures an excellent lookout point from where to spot their next meal. When the vultures feed on carcasses they are doing the animal kingdom a huge favor because some of those animals died from diseases that can easily spread when other animals feast on their dead meat.
Even in the destruction of the beautiful Marula trees nature has found a way of using that situation to benefit the animal kingdom.
And sometimes we can do the same thing with our worst or negative experiences because adversity and failure are gold mines for learning. Sometimes it’s from our most difficult experiences where we can learn the most.
This reminds me of the quote from Charles R. Swindoll who said,
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
It’s not so much what happens, but what we choose to do with those experiences that matter most.
If we interpret difficult experiences as the “end of the world” then that’s what they become. But if we’re intentional about taking something beneficial from those experiences we’ll find something there too.
What we get out of situations is a choice we make.
In the book Peaks and Valleys, the authors make a strong case for learning from high points, but also from the low points in life using the metaphor of you guessed it -peaks and valleys.
And to get out of a valley sooner they write,
“Find and use the good hidden in a bad situation.”
And the question these authors pose to those who want to better manage the good and bad times is,
“What is the truth in this situation?”
That’s a great question because it keeps us grounded in the truth and not in some of the destructive stories our imaginations come up with.
If we have a mindset that focuses on turning obstacles into opportunities we’ll always find something. I’m not saying we should just smile through our worst moments. That’s fake and unhealthy.
But when the tears have stopped flowing or after you’ve picked yourself up from the floor give yourself some time to reflect on what happened and what you can learn from that experience. The British author John Milton said,
“The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.”
I want to give a special shout-out to the Ku Sungula Safari lodge in the Greater Kruger Park in South Africa. The service and attention my family and I received was amazing. The guides were so knowledgeable and passionate about the wildlife that they kept us engaged on each of our 3-hour game drives. There was never a boring moment. If you’re looking for a safari adventure please check them out. No one is paying me to say this.