The Girl & The Pebble

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Once Upon a time there was a girl who often liked to spend time by a pond behind her house. She was a quiet and pensive girl, but wise beyond her years.

She would often bring a journal and write out her thoughts. She enjoyed writing poetry, short stories, and whatever thought came to mind really.

She shone with a quiet resilience, keeping to herself most of the time. But those that knew her knew that she was destined to do something great in the world. 

This day, she had decided to leave her journal behind and venture to the pond alone. It was a fine spring day — the flowers were just starting to bloom and the grass and forestry was taking on a deep green colour after weeks of brown following the melting of the frost. 

The girl liked to collect rocks, stones and pebbles — and so when she reached the waters edge she began searching the ground for unique stones that she could take home, wash and polish.

There was a big stone a few feet away that stood out to her. She picked it up. It was heavy and jagged – studded with imbedded crystals and sparkled ever so brightly in the sunlight. 

Normally she would have taken a stone as beautiful as this home, but something told her to do something different today. 

After admiring it for quite some time – she turned her attention to the pond and hoisted the rock into the air. It landed in the water, creating a big “SPLASH”. She watched the ripples it created, mesmerised by the patterns in the pond. It was a abrasive really – for something so big, bold and beautiful to rip right through the smooth reflections of the waters surface.

She then turned her attention back to the ground as she looked for another stone. She searched for quite some time but couldn’t seem to find one that stood out to her. As she kicked her feet into the ground, one pebble rolled a few feet away. She stopped the rolling with her foot and picked up the pebble.

This pebble was light and had a greyish colour. However what made this pebble interesting was it’s smooth surface and rounded edges. “How many years of weathering it must have taken to make a pebble this smooth!” she thought. 

After turning it over in her hands, she then turned to the pond and gently tossed the pebble towards the water in at an angle. The pebble skimmed the water and proceeded to hop right across it – creating 5 larger ripples and a few smaller ripples. 

She noticed how while the ripples started off small, they seemed to spread ever so quickly – crossing each other and creating more ripples. She was mesmerised by the beauty of it all, as it seemed to go on forever.

She came to a realisation that day.

While the bigger, bolder and more beautiful stone made a large “splash” and larger ripple — it soon faded. Yet the smaller, smoother and less noticeable pebble – while seeming to be nothing special – was able to create many light ripples that then created a beautiful pattern on the surface of the water.

“I’m more like the smooth pebble” she thought.

See, many of us believe that to succeed in business or in our lives, we must be like the large stone. We need to stand out, sparkle, and make a “Splash”. 

But often times, a quiet presence, humility, love and compassion is more powerful. 

At the end of the day – BE YOU whatever that looks like.

If you are naturally loud, bold and sparkly, then be that way because it is who you are.

But many of us shine brightly with a quiet assurance. If this is you — know that you can STILL make a massive difference.. you can touch SO many people, in fact sometimes even MORE people – with your special touch of humility and solitude.  

Let YOUR WORK Speak for itself. 

So which one are you? Let me know your thoughts below!