The Seed
Winner of the Literary
Inspirations Essay Contest
Yahia Elboukili
T
he past 6 months
were the hardest in
my life. I had big
changes—moving
to a new country,
becoming 100% independent
from my family, in a different
culture, all at once. It was very
tough to adjust and be integrat-
ed. I spent the majority of my
free time reading new books
and trying to learn new things,
until I was very lucky and a
friend of mine introduced a
book to me. It changed my life,
it changed the way I see things,
the way I live. I learned that
life is all about perspectives.
Did you know that humans
have the same growing process
as a Seed? After reading
Jon Gordon’s book, it really
changed my way of seeing life.
His famous book The Seed
talks about finding purpose and
happiness in life, and how our
perspective plays a big role in
leading our lives to be a posi-
tive or negative being. The main
character of the book (Josh) had
a hard time in his job and was
confused about making the right
decision— either stay or quit
his work. After going on a trip
with his dog Dharma, he met a
lot of new people and learned
about the 4 stages of life that
connect us to the Seed. His story
is very energizing and inspiring,
and we can all learn from it.
Through Josh’s adventure he
figured out that there are differ-
ent stages of life and that we all
connect to it somehow. We all go
through the time in our life when
we attend school and college,
and start learning new things,
not only in school but also about
life. We figure out that we are
getting more responsible and
independent. Attending college
makes us know what interests
us, if we like politics or not, if
we want to become lawyers,
athletes, etc. That’s what Jon
Gordon called in his book
as “The Preparation Stage.”
He referred to it as the time
when we take our first step of
understanding life. We learn
new skills, and we see what
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are our strengths and weak-
nesses, and where it will take
us in life. Of course, there is no
timeline for it, because we are
all different. Sometimes people
figure it out quickly and know
what they want to be and what
they are good at. And there are
others who take longer, trying to
understand and look for signs.
The second stage, which I
consider the most important
one, is “The Planting Stage.”
When planting a seed we should
take into consideration the place
and the surrounding. Is the seed
going to grow to its fullest? Is
this the right place to grow it?
Similar to a seed, people are also
meant to grow and improve.
So we should ask the same
questions about us: is this the
right place for me to plant
myself? Am I going to grow and
learn? People usually accept
the first job they get no matter
what, as long as it will pay the
bills. Imagine if you do some-
thing you like, and a team you
like, would you not be happy?