I wish I could tell you the origin of this story, in fact, I am not certain I even remember where I heard it first. Recently, I was reminded of it and truly inspired by its lesson. So please allow me to share my version (as I remember it) with you...

There was a land where there was great abundance. Everything was lush, the people were prosperous and it was definitely a Utopia. The people here were energetic and lived their lives in great prosperity. They were great artists, inventors and entrepreneurs.

But near this land, lived a tribe of giants. Real giants, many feet tall who were mean and vindictive. The giants were unhappy and lived in constant turmoil. They had very little and everything they had, they stole from other tribes. They were truly miserable. The giants were very envious of the lifestyle of the Utopians. They would spy on them and dream of having what the Utopians had. They knew that if they just had the possessions of the Utopians, their lives would change dramatically and they would be happy.

So one day, the giants decided they wanted what the people of the Utopian land possessed. They decided to invade and take everything, killing the Utopians and then possessing all the wealth, comforts, joy and peace of the Utopians..

On the day of the invasion, they were surprised to encounter resistance from the Utopians. They had assumed since the Utopians were so peaceful, they would never attempt to fight the mighty giants.

The giants were outnumbered and more importantly, outwitted at every turn. Eventually, the Utopians lured the giants to the beautiful lake which was the center of the land. At this point, the giants were hit by a barrage of stone which forced them all face down in the water. Remarkably, every one of the giants drowned in the lake.

After the battle ended, the Utopians proceeded to walk into the lake and pull the giants out. But wait, did they WALK into the water and not take boats? Yes, at its deepest point, the water was only 4 ft deep. The entire tribe of giants drowned in only 4 ft of water!

So what is the moral of this story? If you are in the habit of thinking big, you will always stand up and press on, but if you think small, not realizing your own personal ability, you will accept your defeat and drown!

Do you know you are a giant? There is a giant inside each of us. What differentiates our giants from our Drowning Giants is our ability to make choices. We have dreams and aspirations that should drive us to excel. Remember the drowning giants were miserable creatures who saw no joy in their lives. But we know how to find our joy.

Standing up simply means responsibility. Responsibility for our lives, our results, our future and our joy. It means to identify our options and to take action. It means to claim our success and our results.

Why do so many people in our society fail to identify their options? I believe it is because we live in a society of fear and limiting beliefs. Just listen and watch. You will hear it in almost everyone you know and almost everywhere you go.

Most of us were raised with "Who do you think you are?" or "Life is not easy" or "You can not have what you want, you only get what life brings you" and on and on and on. When I hear these things, it makes me think of the giants and the glup, glup, glup of them drowning in 4 feet of water.

Someone very wise told me once "Don't be content in living in a small little coupon clipping life." This was some of the most powerful advice I have ever received. He was talking about being a giant. Standing up and claiming my life. About not settling but by striving for as much as I could cram into a lifetime.

We are inadvertently taught in our society that "everything will be okay if we just think a little smaller than the next guy." NO, IT WON'T!!! Stand up and THINK BIG.

In fact, Think Huge and expect Huge in your life. You will only get out of life what you expect, so make it BIG.

You will never outperform your own self worth. If you see yourself as small, then you might as well accept your small results and drown in your small world.

But if you see yourself as a giant and Stand Up for a Big and amazing life, that is exactly what you will get. Do you think anyone who was ever successful in sports, music, art, or even business did so by accident?

No, it was because they saw the giant within and made a decision to not drown in pathetic decisions and actions but instead live life extraordinarily.

We ALL have this option available to us. So stand up and claim it today!

To Your Success...

This is an original article by Wanda Grindstaff and may not be copied.