The Cooked Frog Principle: What Is It?
The cooked frog principle refers to the emotional waste that occurs when we find ourselves locked up in situations from which we believe it is impossible to escape and, for this reason, we endure and endure until we get burned.
Let’s say that, little by little, we will enter a sort of vicious circle that will deteriorate us mentally and emotionally to the point of leaving us without strength and unable to react.
It was Olivier Clerc, French writer and philosopher, who invented in a simple, clear and illustrative language, the fable “The frog that ended up cooked without realizing it and other life lessons”. Let’s see in detail what this teaching consists of and how we can apply this teaching.
The frog that ended up cooked, the frog that wasted all his strength
The fable is based on a true physical law that tells us that “if the rate of heating of the water temperature is lower than 0.02 ºC / minute, the frog remains calm and dies only at the end of cooking. If the temperature rises faster, the frog jumps and runs away ”.
Thus, exactly as explained by Olivier Clerc, if we put a frog in a container full of water and begin to heat it little by little, it will gradually begin to adjust its body temperature. When the water reaches boiling point, the frog will no longer be able to do anything and, therefore, will try to jump away.
Unfortunately, however, at that point he will no longer be able to do so because he will have wasted his strength trying to adjust his body temperature and will no longer enjoy the boost he would have needed to escape. As a result, the frog dies boiled without doing anything to save itself.
Now we must ask ourselves the fundamental question underlying the dilemma: what killed the frog? Was it boiling water or his inability to choose the right time to jump and escape?
Certainly if it had been suddenly immersed in a pot at 50 ºC, the frog would have jumped vigorously and saved itself. However, while the temperature rose in a tolerable way, it did not concern itself with escaping.
The silent deterioration that leads us to pretend we’re fine
When emotional deterioration is very slow, it goes unnoticed by us too. This leads us not to react, not to oppose until we suffocate, because we breathe a toxic air that poisons us little by little.
When a change occurs slowly enough, it escapes our consciousness and, therefore, causes no reaction or opposition. In this sense, it is very common to be victims of the cooked frog principle within some relationships as a couple, at work, in the family, with friends and even on a macrosocial level.
When addiction, pride, selfishness or needs are manifested with the dropper, it is difficult for us to realize how harmful the environment in which we move can be.
We may even feel it is a pleasant thing that our partner needs us at any time, that our boss trusts us enough to give us certain tasks, or that our dear friend is constantly asking us for help.
However, in the long run, needs decrease our ability to react and respond, leading us to exhaust our strengths and abilities until we realize that this is not a healthy relationship.
The moral of the cooked frog
This process of silent adaptation to malaise destroys us and takes control of our lives, little by little and in a subtle way. This prevents us from being conscious and preparing ourselves to give an answer that is truly adequate to our needs.
For this reason, a conscious effort must be made to keep our eyes open and evaluate what we desire. Only in this way will we be able to subtract value from what deteriorates our faculties. We can only grow if we are willing to feel uncomfortable for some time.
Getting started and asserting our rights, in fact, is something that many times those around us do not like, because others are used to the fact that we adapt and, therefore, our change of attitude could result for them ” uncomfortable”.
Remember that sometimes a good “enough! “It will help us to guarantee our emotional well-being and to safeguard our self-love, our dignity and our interests. We always keep in mind the cooked frog principle and avoid consuming ourselves in a pain that can be avoided in time.
Bibliographical references :
Clerc, O. The frog who ended up cooked without realizing it … and other life lessons . Bompiani.
