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5 October 2026
Some animals build elaborate homes.
Birds build nests.
Beavers build dams.
Ants build entire underground colonies.
And then there is the hermit crab.
It does something much simpler.
It borrows one.
A hermit crab has a soft abdomen that offers little protection. So when it grows, it looks for an empty shell left behind by a snail and moves inside.
As the crab becomes larger, it must eventually find a bigger shell.
The strange thing is that a shell is not simply a hiding place.
It is its protection.
Without it, the crab is vulnerable.
So a tiny creature walks around carrying a house that it did not build.
There is something almost amusing about it.
But there is also something familiar.
We spend much of our lives collecting things we believe will make us secure.
A house.
A bank balance.
A job.
A title.
Sometimes they protect us.
Sometimes they simply become things we carry.
The hermit crab has no such confusion.
It knows exactly what its shell is for.
Protection.
Nothing more.
Perhaps there is a small lesson there for us.
Keep what protects you.
But don’t mistake the shell for the life inside it.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah, Guwahati, Assam, India, Instagram @rajatchandrasarmah, YouTube: conversewithasmile, email rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
