Choose our own struggles and see the change.
Life loses its shine if we live a borrowed life. Borrowing life means copying others or abiding by others in choosing a career, profession, habits, and interpreting happenings.
In general, we don’t try to know what we can do and just highlight earnings, accumulation, and showing something high by some people in our known circles. The error is that we talk about comparison and not competence. Normally, comparisons lead us to follow what has been decided by others.
What I have observed is that there is ample scope to choose a place, school, playground, or friend once we start interacting with the outside world. I was more interested in concept-oriented topics than memorising anything. Solving math problems was more challenging than uttering poems from memory. Many peers were just the reverse. We were promoted, and all our friends chose streams of their own interests in adulthood.
The purpose of the above example is not to prescribe a standard for deciding whether a particular faculty is superior or inferior, with high dividends or low dividends, or with a better or bleak future. It is just to explain the power of choosing. The colleagues, less interested in education, opted for other options than higher studies, but many of them, who were struggle-oriented, performed well in what they did.
No field is easy. From farming to factories, from flying to fathoming, all require enough struggle so that aspirants get opportunities to shine.
Struggle is invariably a common factor for people we know through books, stories, or something else in making their lives memorable.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has, said Margaret Mead.
Struggle does not mean just hard labor. It includes vision, imagination, participation, and action. Action is the crux of struggle. People are born with specific powers to make their presence on this planet widely felt. Without action, people remain unidentified in the herds of millions, and their potential remains untapped.
Our actions must be a little different from others, just as players in an orchestra act differently for a common goal. To be special, one has to identify one’s role, sometimes with some trial and error.
To reach the top of anything, an individual or group has to be disturbed and broken. Peace is in demand, but we have to be unsettled to be settled at a higher level.
Human wisdom gets a boost only when we use our common sense, venture into the unknown, and apply our intuitions and actionable insights.
Shakespeare lived an intimate life, but he was not inclined to define anything. Rather, his words expressed everything. It was with grace that he lived and became distinguished.
At one stage, a person may shine, followed by dark periods, more struggle, doing the maximum to bounce back, another disturbance, and coming to a new normal with more rewards. Life goes like this. The principle behind all ups and downs is not succumbing to circumstances.
Just remember two words: keep going, and anyone can see how obstacles become stepping stones.
Also remember that shortcuts may bear some outcomes instantly, but aiming for immediate gain turns sour in the long term. It is better to lose the game than take shortcuts in our endeavour. Not always repeat the stories of others. Rather, try to tell your own good stories for the benefit of others.
What I have personally encountered is to take ownership of my own life, not be hesitant to take decisions, select my own area of occupation, not blame others, respect others, and not beat myself up when something goes wrong. Where I have underutilised the opportunities, I have suffered, and when I decided to make an impact, it happened.
While I am ageing, I allow one song to run through my mind, reminding me that many extraordinary things have happened to people when they were physically diminishing. I remind myself to do something when I am mentally fit. I hope we will agree that there is no alternative to continuing to struggle. We are all capable of shining, regardless of what has occurred or has not occurred by now.