It was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining, and the air was crisp. It was a perfect day for a hike in the woods. A woman – someone I would call a high achiever – was walking along on this gorgeous day when she suddenly heard a rustling behind her. She turned around and realized there was a family of tigers behind her. She knew they wanted to have her for lunch.

She started to run very fast. Good thing she was in top physical condition like most high achievers. After two years of working out with her personal trainer, she could outrace even the most physically fit tiger.  

And outrun the tigers she did.  

But she had a problem. She’d been working out on a treadmill for the last two years, and she wasn’t used to navigating her way through the trees. She soon ran right up to the edge of a cliff. Ever resourceful, she scampered down the side and hung on to a clump of vines.

Meanwhile, the tigers gathered above her breathing heavily and licking their lips.  And one of them started to make his way down to get her. These tigers were hungry.

She looked down to find an escape route, and instead she saw another family of tigers making their way up the cliff. Apparently, this second family wanted to have her for lunch as well. Just then she heard a faint rustle and saw a small field mouse chomping through the vines to which she clung.  

"It’s curtains for me," she said to the mouse. "All this work at being successful and look where it’s gotten me. I’ve suffered and I’ve sacrificed for my career. I’ve work long, hard hours, and when I’m almost there, this is how it’s going to end?"

At that very moment, she noticed a rich, ripe strawberry hanging from the vine right under her nose.  

With the tigers above her and the tigers below her, her life flashed before her eyes. All the years she had spent working, trying to create a better future. All those years she had spent on the fast track, believing true success and satisfaction was right around the corner. All those times she told her family and friends to wait just a few more weeks because she would have time to spend with them when she got that bonus or got promoted or moved into her new house. The right time never seemed to come.

All those ripe-strawberry moments she had passed up, waiting for riper strawberries, for better moments, for her life truly to begin.

So with the tigers above her and the tigers below her, she realized there was only one thing to do: eat the rich, luscious, delicious, red strawberry. It was in that moment that she learned how to find joy and meaning in her life.

There are always tigers above you and tigers below you, yet you refuse to eat the juicy, red strawberries that hang only inches away. You ignore the strawberries because you believe there’s something better up ahead. You spend your life waiting for your life to begin. And you die waiting for your life to begin.  

To find true meaning in your life is to recognize that there will always be tigers around you, but there will always be luscious strawberries right in front of you as well.  Living your life is about learning how to pick the strawberries. Learning how to enjoy them. And learning how to nourish the rich experiences of your life.

Don’t wait. Your strawberries are there. All you have to do is reach out and grab them.

* This ancient story was adapted from Geneen Roth’s book, When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair.