You probably had this question : “what would be your totem-animal ?” or “if you were an animal, which one would you like to be ?”. I guess most of the people answers lion because it is strong and it is associated with royalty, fox because it is smart, wolf because it is a predator (and it hunt in pack). I say turtle.

I have not often seen lion, fox or wolf for real. I don’t know if they are royal (I would say lion are lazy), smart or have a pack mentality. But I had a turtle named “Caroline” (probably like 80% of the turtle in France due to a french comics) in my garden and I had plenty of time to observe her (or him ?).

Caroline was focused. When she wanted to go somewhere, she dedicated all her energy to reach it. Caroline was slow but she never gave up. Whatever obstacle she had in front, she always found a way to overcome it, even with her carapace. Caroline was the ultimate survivor. She could live long, eat few, had her own protection against most of the danger she could encounter (in a garden).

I may also been influenced by the Esope fable “the tortoise and the hare“, which, as many french kids, I learned as one of the fables of Jean de la Fontaine. In the version I know, the Turtle and the hare have a race contest. The hare start very fast but take a nap. When he wakes up, the turtle is on the finish line and wins. The moral is “no need to tun, you need to start on time”. I really love this idea that perseverance is better than natural talent.

So, the turtle may be slow and not as flashy as lions, fox or wolf but it is focused, resiliant and it will outlive the others. Be a turtle !