The Parable of The Mule (Shake it off, And Step Up

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule which fell into
the farmer’s well one morning. The farmer heard the mule ‘braying’
desperately from its hopeless position, battered and bruised. The
mule looked upward for a savior.

After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with
the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the
trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told
them what had happened…eventually enlisting them to help haul dirt to
bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical as his awful plight soured
further. But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and
the dirt hit his back…a thought struck the stubborn mule. It suddenly
dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his
back… HE SHOULD SIMPLY SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

And so he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off
and step up…shake it off and step up!” he repeated to encourage
himself as the well grew shorter and the light above grew brighter.

No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed
the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND
STEPPING UP

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped
triumphantly over the wall as the neighbors and a farmer once intent
on burying him learned a lesson about overcoming adversity in their
own lives