The Boiling Point

I’m sure you’re familiar with the boiling point if you have ever taken chemistry. This term is in reference to the temperature: meaning the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the external pressure surrounding the liquid. When some people think of the boiling point they symbolize it with their attitude. How much can one person take before they explode?

I’m sure you may even be familiar with certain foods you can put inside boiling water and depending on what it’s made of, the water will cause it to chemically react in a certain way. Take an egg for instance, if you boil it you notice that the shell will harden and the inside turns solid. If you boil a potato it will soften, and if you’re like me you’ll mix butter, milk, salt, and pepper to make some delicious mashed potatoes. Or if you mix coffee with boiling water, the coffee will actually change the water enabling you to enjoy a piping hot cup of coffee!

With these three examples, it makes me look at them as a symbolism to which kind of person I am. Am I like the potato? When life starts to get a little difficult, does the circumstances cause me to soften and become weak allowing the situations to crush and defeat me? Or what about the egg? Do I allow situations in life that are difficult to harden me, causing me to be bitter and then eventually crack under pressure? How about the coffee? No matter how tough life gets or how difficult the situation, will I be able to withstand and actually change my circumstances instead of allowing them to change me?

If you noticed, the coffee is the only one that actually adapts to the heat in liquid and changes the water. I know that life isn’t easy and there are certain situations that make us bitter, sad, angry or regretful, but it’s what we do after that initial reaction that sets the tone of the outcome. I know that there has been times in my life that I allowed situations to get the best of me, but with each situation it was a learning experience. Life isn’t perfect and neither are we. With each day that we are given it’s like a restart button we are gifted. I don’t care what happened yesterday, because we can’t go back and restart that day, but we do have today to make a change! Don’t let life weaken you and harden your heart; instead be like coffee and adapt to the change!