It’s important to be able to talk to the people we care about about the challenges we’re facing in life so that we don’t have to go through them alone.

The revelation that her spouse was having an affair rocked one woman’s world to its foundations. She found her grandma and had a long chat with her about what had happened.

The elderly lady invited us to come into the kitchen and observe. There, she used boiling water to cook an egg, a carrot, and coffee beans in three separate pots.

The woman’s grandmother encouraged her to remain patient despite her confusion. She soon instructed her granddaughter to drain the carrot and explain the effects of the water on the carrot.

The granddaughter said that while it solidified the egg, it loosened the root of the carrot. The coffee beans in the third pot were responsible for the color shift.

After that, Grandma posed the question of whether she was the egg, the carrot, or the coffee beans. Sometimes the presence of adversity makes us more malleable and tolerant to others’ perspectives. At other times, it fortifies us and makes us more resilient.

But if we’re a coffee bean, we rise above our circumstances and mold them to our liking regardless of how they might otherwise influence us.

That day, the lady got a very valuable education.