Don't let them drag you down
Stop worrying about what people think.
Stop worrying about what people say.
For much of my life, I cared way too much about the opinions of other people. I worried if I was good enough. I let my self worth rise and fall based on how other people viewed me.
That’s a dangerous trap to live in.
If you’re stuck in that trap right now, today is the day you break free from it.
Have you ever heard the story about the bucket of crabs?
When I first heard it, I immediately saw how much it applied to my own life.
Picture a bucket full of crabs. Claws clacking. Shells banging around. Every crab crawling over each other at the bottom of the bucket.
Then one crab decides he’s going to climb out.
That crab is you.
That crab is me.
The one willing to leave the current environment behind and chase something bigger. The one willing to crawl toward the unknown and see what’s outside the bucket.
But here’s what happens.
As that lone crab starts climbing out, all the other crabs reach up with their claws and pull him back down.
That story applies directly to life.
Look around carefully.
There are people around you right now who don’t actually want you to succeed. Some might smile to your face. Some might cheer quietly from a distance. But deep down, not everybody wants to see you escape the bucket.
Some people want you to stay average.
Some people want you to stay comfortable.
Some people want you to stay exactly where they are.
And the second you start climbing toward something bigger, they’ll try to pull you back down.
I saw it firsthand in my own life.
When I started having success in hockey, I could feel the atmosphere change around me. I felt it when I made the USHL. I felt it when I went Division 1. I definitely felt it when I signed my NHL contract.
And when I finally made the NHL, some people I thought would be the happiest for me didn’t even call.
Silence.
That shocked me at first. I couldn’t understand it.
But eventually I realized something.
I escaped the bucket.
And not everybody wanted me to.
If you’re truly chasing the hockey dream, or any dream in life, you have to become comfortable being the lone crab climbing out of the bucket.
That takes courage.
That takes strength.
That takes belief in yourself.
Because sometimes the climb gets lonely.
Some people will root for you. Some won’t.
But at the end of the day, it’s your vision.
You have to root for yourself.
You have to believe in what you see before anyone else sees it.
That’s how you escape the bucket.
That’s how you reach the top.
And once you finally climb over the edge, you make the leap into your destiny and discover what was waiting for you all along.
I encourage you to live this way.
It’s the only way to live.
Knuckles up,
Bobby Robins, savage motivator, NHL Alum, writer for Wraparound