I recently read an e-mail that posed this question: "Which are you a carrot, an egg or a cup of coffee?" The answer may surprise you.
A young woman told her mother about her difficult life and how she wanted to give up.

Her mother took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water and turned the burners on high. In the first, she placed a carrot, the second an egg and in the last, ground coffee beans.

Twenty minutes later she put the carrots, eggs and coffee in separate bowls. Turning to her daughter, she asked her, "Tell me what
you see."
"I see carrots, eggs and coffee," she replied.

Her mother asked her to feel the carrots. They were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. It was hard-boiled. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. It had a rich taste.

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, but became hardened inside. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After being placed in boiling water, they changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

The carrot seems strong, but with pain and adversity, wilts, softens and loses strength.