Peter Barnum
Toastmasters Storytelling #3: A long winter

On a small farm, under a short log, in a little burrow, lived a tiny, 
tiny field mouse named Jack. Jack lived in this hole with his ten brother 
and ten sisters, with his ten uncles and his ten aunts, with tens and 
tens of friends, relatives, and neighbors.

It was late one autumn morning. The leaves had turned red long ago and 
many of the trees were bare. At night, the wind had a nip that would poke 
through the thickest fur, although it was several weeks before the snows 
were to come. This was the beginning of the most difficult time for the 
mice, first a flurry of work, then huddling, shivering for months, where 
even a short trip out of the burrow was a challenge.
	
All of the mice were preparing for a hard winter, a time of cold and 
hunger. Every day, they would travel around the barn, looking for any 
scrap of food that they could hoard. They would go out right after dark, 
and work the entire long, autumn night. 
	
It was after such a night that Jack returned to the hole. His back was 
aching and his paws shook from exhaustion. He curled up in a little ball 
and thought with misery about the hard times he had in preparing for the 
winter, and the even harder times to come. But Jack knew that in just a 
few short hours, he would have to be up again, up again scurrying around, 
working, busy, pushing already sore muscles on and on. As Jack lay his 
head down, he felt a tear slide slowly down his cheek. But slowly, 
exhausted, he drifted off to sleep.
	
The winter was harsh, as hard as any of them could have imagined. Every 
day would be spent foraging, fighting bitter winds and running from 
starving foxes. The autumn was only a distant memory, and every day was a 
struggle harder than the last.
	
But eventually, the days started getting milder, and although the work 
got no easier, the end was in sight. But the melting snow was causing 
dangerous landslides, and Jack hurt his leg when was caught in one, and 
was forced to stay in the burrow for several days.

During this time he was laid up, he finally had time to think. The winter 
was certainly hard, but no one had died, and his was one of the few 
injuries. He looked down at his paw, and flexed it. The hard winter had 
made his muscles hard and strong. His fur was thick and warm. Thinking 
back on how he had learned to handle the events and challenges of 
blizzards and hunger, his mind felt quick and capable.  He was not the 
mouse that he remembered, curled up in a ball, dreading the bitter frost.

After a few days of lying around, Jack awoke to a warm breeze tickling 
his nose. His eyes fluttered open and he stretched out. He checked his 
leg, and it finally appeared to be able to take his weight. 
	
Jack stepped outside, where a group was lounging around in the spring 
air. They were complaining to each other of all the hard work that was 
left to be done, how they weren’t sure they could take even one more day 
of it, and how they longed for the warm, long days of summer. How they 
felt tired out, and worn out, and didn’t feel capable of doing the day’s 
work, shoring up the hole after it was damaged in the melting snow.

Jack was thoughtful. The few days that he had been unable to go out had 
given him perspective on the work. He was surprised that the other mice 
couldn’t see. Couldn’t they see themselves, lean and sinewy, eyes sharp 
and bright, minds awake and muscles strong? The winter had honed them, 
and couldn’t they see that the hard work in the early spring would as 
well? Sure, the next few weeks would be hard, but they would come out of 
it better than they had ever been. He had to make them understand.
	
Jack walked out to the center of the group and addressed them. 
	
“How can you be saying these things? How can you worry about hardships 
and difficulty? We were able to handle everything the winter threw at us, 
how is this time any different?”

A surly voice spoke up. “Sure, we’ll be able to handle it, but that 
doesn’t mean it will be easy.”

“No one said it will be easy, but in a couple of months, this work will 
be done. Why worry about it?”

Some of the mice looked skeptical, but a few looked thoughtful. The group 
wandered off to get started. Jack stayed for a moment, pondering on his 
new perspective. He realized that difficulties are only difficult at that 
moment they are being done. The rewards of hard work last. He went off to 
join the other mice, confident in his abilities and happy in his new 
perspective.

We’re going to leave the mice now and bring the focus back to this room. 
Imagine yourself, five years from now. Imagine you could be instantly 
teleported to that time. Would the deadlines next week still be a 
concern? Of course not, you would look back and see that all the tasks 
were completed. Or even if they weren’t, that life went on. Instead of 
worrying about trouble or hardship, we just need to trust in our 
abilities and do what needs to be done. We just have to remind ourselves 
that it will pass and we will be stronger, better people when it does.