#103.Crab Mentality and the Fear of Confronting Limits

Crab mentality is often misunderstood as jealousy, but it is really about what happens when someone confronts a shared limitation. Using the image of crabs in a jar where any crab that tries to climb out is pulled back down this episode explores why movement unsettles people more than success ever does.

Through five focused reflections, the episode examines how limitation becomes normalised, why movement provokes resistance, and how fear, scarcity, and loyalty are used to keep things the same. The aim is not to accuse, but to create clarity about what resistance is responding to when it shows up.

Reflection questions explored in this episode:

1. Which limitations have I accepted simply because they are shared?

2. What does someone else’s movement out of limitation awaken in me?

3. Where might moral language be disguising discomfort with change?

4. How does scarcity shape the way I interpret other people’s growth?

5. What am I being pulled back from — not because it is wrong, but because it disrupts familiarity?