Le Weekly #69 – Stink Bugs 🪲

One quote, one word, one shoutout, one story, one neigh from Philosophical Horse and one question.

Thank you for starting the week with Le Weekly.

Take a moment to reflect on each snippet. Comment your thoughts below.

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Le Quote 🗣

“Environment trumps willpower.” – Andre Redelinghuys.

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Le Word 💬

quest (noun) a long or arduous search for something.

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Le Shoutout 🧣

Last week, I spoke to 16 young men in Zimbabwe via Zoom.

My brief was simple: speak about life and the role Quest played in it.

After about 45 minutes of inspiring the youth, I opened the floor for questions.

A man named Japh walked up to the computer:

"Mike,” he said. “That dark space you were speaking about. How exactly did you get out of that?" he asked.

I thought for a second before answering.

“The non-spiritual advice I give to people is to really make sure, when you're in a good space—when you're young, when you don't have stresses of life yet, when you don't have dependents, when you don't have government taking tax money from you, when you don't have rent, when you don't have to buy your food every night and cook—to understand that you've got this awesome opportunity to set mental frameworks in place that will come in handy one day. When somebody in your life is sick, or when you get fired from a job, having good mental constructs will help you get through it. One of the things that I wish I had known before starting my entrepreneurial journey was how tough it was going to be, and I wish I had the correct mental constructs in place before going into the journey. Before you take on life, and while you're in a space like Quest, you should, yes, drink brandy whenever you can, because that's fun, but when you have downtime, just be interested in philosophy and mental constructs and the mind and being a better human. Even if you don’t feel like it's necessary now, it will come into play one day. If you have those things before tough times hit, you'll be so well equipped to take them on,” I said.

I don’t think I answered his question, but still.

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Then, yesterday, while speaking to a lady called Shirley, Michelle shared the story of how she broke her back.

Exactly one year ago, while rock climbing, she reached for a handhold, missed the grip and fell.

She only fell two metres, but the way she fell meant she landed at an awkward angle.

*crack*

One second she was climbing, the next she was on her back.

“It’s not about how far you fall,” she told Shirly. “But how you fall.”

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I took out my notebook and wrote:

“It’s not about how far you fall, but how you fall.” – Michelle Labuschagne.

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Shoutout to Jaff for asking questions, to the Quest boys for enduring 45 minutes of my life story, and to Michelle for her perspective, patience, and quote.

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Le Story ✍️

The other night, I was sitting outside when I looked to my right.

There, standing in the corner of the garden was an enormous tree.

I knew the tree was there because it has always been there. I grew up with it in my garden.

It’s 30 years old, just older than me, and perfectly shaped.

It’s a constant reminder of how long it takes for good things to grow.

It’s one of the most beautiful trees I know.

Anyway, the other night, when I looked to my right, I felt a weird urge to stand up from where I was sitting, walk over to the tree, and touch it.

So, I stood up, walked over to the tree and touched it.

While standing there, touching the tree, I waited.

I waited for a message, perspective, or sign that would justify why I felt like I needed to stand next to the tree in my garden with my hand on its trunk.

All of a sudden, my eyes opened wide.

There, on the trunk, in the dark, barely visible, much to my surprise, were about 20 stink bugs.

They were just sitting there, gathering.

I’d never seen something like it before.

The tree is a White Stinkwood, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the stink bug party in front of me.

In the darkness, it was just me, my favourite tree and the bugs.

And then a realisation dawned on me: If the tree was a person, it would probably say:

“Hey, I’m good for nothing. I’m just a tree who is covered in stink bugs.”

Yet, little does it know, it is one of the most beautiful trees in the world.

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I had no idea it was covered in stink bugs.

Only when I got up really close, in the cover of darkness, could I see them for the first time.

And then I realised something cool:

Because of the stink bugs, I liked the tree even more.

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Le Neigh from Philosophical Horse 🐴

“Neigh.” – Philosophical Horse.

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Le Question 🤔

Which mental framework have you developed that you’d recommend others adopt when facing tough times?

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Have a powerful Monday, everyone.

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Remember to send this to someone who finds meaning in life’s smallest moments.

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