The Problem With Elephants

Written by Kate Wildrick, April 16, 2025

Years ago, my husband and I decided to team up with another colleague in hopes of being able to build aquaponic farms and support the growing industry. This man had big visions for the future and working in construction he dreamed of taking his work to the next level as a developer. As he gathered his team of trusted people, we were invited to collaborate with him to see what was possible.

My previous work in the corporate world gave me a lot of perspectives and vantage points into the inner and outer workings of people and their motives as well as what can make or break teams. Over time, you cannot help but get exposed to anecdotal stories that have been adopted to explain a position or value that one has. In his particular case, he would do his best to raise support for an idea or vision by sharing his story of how it is much easier to eat an elephant if everyone takes a bite. He would then go on to say, “and then there is that part that no one wants to eat [an elephant’s asshole], but we all have to do it if we are going to eat an elephant.”

After he would finish his story, he would stand back and evaluate how his words landed. Sometimes I would watch what others would do, but most of the time I would wonder the following:

– Is it really necessary to eat that asshole and why?

– Why can’t we make an another agreement?

– Why are we eating elephants?

– Who gets to decide that this is what we are doing?

These and other questions would flood my mind and I could not help but wonder if others were thinking similar thoughts. Nonetheless, every time that story came up, I felt more and more disenfranchised to lean in and want to participate.

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Years have passed and sitting at my desk, I have been mining for stories and experiences that I can share in my new e-learning course, Becoming the Writer of Your Life. In reflecting back on this particular story and that events that eventually brought out work to an end, I now understand more about why there was resistance and how a story like what I have shared here, plants ideas and associations in one’s mind that can either work for or against you. In this case, what was meant to be fun and playful left an impressionable skid mark. On an unconscious and subconscious level, it opened up the mind to thinking about associating work with very unpleasureable experiences that juxtaposed eating (often equated with enjoyment and meeting basic survival needs) with excrement (that naturally raises hygiene and safety issues). As the brain works to reconcile and understand what is expected while also predict and anticipate what kind of experience it will have in this relationship it is not to hard to see where a case can be made to not fully commit due to some red flags of things that do not exactly line up or generate more questions than answers.

The point is, we all have stories that we have latched onto or adopted that help us explain and make sense of ourself and the world around us. Often times, stories and narratives remain unchecked or challenged. In doing so, the run amok as truth and can filter out what we perceive is happening (or not happening).

My intention for writing this course is to help people recognize that we can examine, edit and revise the narratives that we hold dear. In being inspired by the 15+ years of doing healing work, I have witnessed incredible transformations when people decide to change their stories and make room for something better. I have spent a great deal of time developing this material to help provide a toolkit that can grow and expand with you as you step into the role of being the author of your life. I honestly could not be more excited to debut this work as it nears the initial round of editing.

On Saturday, April 19th, I will be releasing a very special opportunity to unfurl this work into the world for a select group of people who would like to help me make it even better. In true giving and receiving, my hope is that together we can even make it better experience for those who will opt to invest in it later. This debut will include some very special perks, so if any of what I have written here piques your interest, I highly encourage you to stay tuned as I will be sharing more about what has fueled me to create this incredible body of work.