A Lesson From The Hawk

Recently, while running on the back roads near my home I spied a red tailed hawk which landed in a tree about 1/10 of a mile ahead of me. I've always been fascinated by birds of prey so I kept my eyes on the hawk as I got closer, hoping that I could get a better look at it. 

When I was about 50 yards shy of the hawk it spread its wings and took flight. However, just as it did so a crow flying nearby immediately flew up beside the hawk and began to squawk and pester it.  The crow was very aggressive and would not let up.

The hawk, of course, is a very powerful bird and could do a lot of damage to the crow if it chose to. However, the hawk chose to simply ignore the crow and continue on its way. Not only did it continue on its way, it also chose to fly at a higher altitude. The crow continued to pester the hawk for about another minute, but then gave up.

I've seen this happen on more than one occasion. In fact, only a few days later I once again saw a red tailed hawk being pestered. This time however, the hawk was being pestered by close to a dozen crows. Despite being outnumbered I’m sure that the hawk could have easily handled the crows. However, like the one I had previously seen, the hawk chose to continue on its journey and deal with the crows by simply flying faster and higher. It was as if the hawk had better things to do and felt that dealing with the crows wasn't worth the energy expenditure required to fight them off. So it ignored them and continued onward, staying focused on more important things.

Why a crow would harass a powerful bird of prey like the hawk is beyond me. I’m sure an ecologist could explain the reasoning behind such actions.  However, since running often promotes deep thinking it occurred to me that the hawk was setting a great example on how we should live life.

Often in life when trying to improve one's self; whether it be trying to lose weight, overcome challenges, make lifestyle changes, run a marathon, get a better job, start a business, or  some other action that promotes a higher quality of living(taking flight if you will);  it is not uncommon to encounter naysayers.  People will say things such as; “you can't do it”, “it will never happen”, “ it’s a waste of time”.  Statements such as these can take away your focus, filling you with negativity and doubt.  

At times like these, it's important to take a lesson from the hawk. Those negative statements are just like squawks coming from crows. They’re just noise which should be ignored. Letting every negative comment get to you impedes your progress.  Like the hawk, your energy is better spent on staying focused on where you are going and achieving your goal. 

While it’s of course always important to listen to feedback from people whose opinions you value, you want to ignore the squawking from all the others.  Don’t let the squawks from the crows cause you to live in mediocrity. Be a hawk; stay focused, rise higher, and pursue your dreams.