Earth, moon, sun, sea, forests, mountains, these have become very ordinary non-significant things to us and our life today.
Every other aspect of our life seems more important today: finances, career, relationships, children, material things. We have given these so much prominence, so much value.
They have become things that are larger than life in our lives. In return, so much sadness, so much anger, so much anxiety, so much despair everywhere.
The answer to all your problems in its very simplicity is to change the idea of how you have been looking at things. Your perception, in its very own term.
Material things are important, but it’s not the end of life. Many people who were after material things have lost life’s precious things down the line. Life’s valuable stuff you can’t buy when you realize it later. But if you pay attention to life’s valuable things and balance your life, material things also follow.
I always admired Steve Jobs as a person who gave life advice to others relating to his own. Following is a part extracted from his deathbed speech.
“At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters unrelated to wealth.
Should be something more important:
Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, maybe a dream from younger days
Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost — Life.”
– Steve Jobs
We fall flat when challenged in our adult life, unlike the kid we were during our younger days. A child getting a remote control car for the first time doesn’t know how to operate it. He will learn hard to master the art of driving it somehow. For us as adults, everything is so complex, time-consuming. It is difficult for us to think out of the box. We want others to present us the solutions to our situations. We feel life is unfair, life is too hard, and we keep questioning ourselves, ‘why me only?’. We think things shouldn’t be this way, and we are a failure.
Who defined success and failures?
The definition of success is ‘the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.’
The definition of failure is ‘lack of success.
Who brought these definitions to the world? You or someone else?
In essence, you interpret your life against someone else’s subjective description. Why haven’t you wondered what if the failure itself is success and vice versa? How sure are you that the victory itself is not a failure?
Under the above definitions, you lose yourself, create unnecessary judgments and stress yourself out, causing physical exhaustion and mental tiredness. In truth, you need physical and mental agility and energy to work on the solutions, get out of the situation, and reap benefits that are for you with time.
I have matured enough today to know that life is hardly the’ actual’ journey as we interpret it at a single moment. I have come to realize these are stepping stones for a way better future ahead. It is just how you interpret it and how you give life to the circumstances and react. If you can master the art of knowing the minor setbacks are the stepping stones in life and victories in life, you will have a better journey ahead. Treat them as stepping stones and not as a result.
The result is way beyond your control, and you have to trust that things always happen for the best. If your usual comfort zone has been shattered, maybe you need to pull yourself together and get up. Down the line in few years, you will know exactly why it happened. It always happens for the best, but you wouldn’t say that when things happen in the present. Life throws at us enormous challenges at times that make you feel weaker deep inside. Make you feel like a failure as opposed to success. People around you pass judgment on you and your actions. Know it will change soon, and hang in there if you genuinely believe inside you are ethical, suitable, and have a bigger purpose of contributing. It will be just a matter of time. Count your stepping stones every time you get ruffled. Believe in life and that it has so much to offer, and something better is waiting for you out there. You have just begun the pathway.
