The Sky is the Limit

This article has been submitted by Sruthi Jaganathan for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think it’s a good read, ‘Like’ the article (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘Comments’ section below.

“Well, so this is it? The end of my dreams? All hopes shattered? Should you give up so soon?” – My sub-conscious mind constantly keeps asking me. Hundreds of questions popped up as I tried my best to shut this thought-process and take a nap. But no! A constant battle broke out between my sub-conscious mind and I.  My mind was searching for thousands of reasons why it must accept defeat whereas my sub-conscious mind gave me thousands other reasons as to why I shouldn’t accept defeat. It is often the picture that we create in our mind that breaks us more than the reality. Failure is just an alarm which reminds us that somewhere our efforts are lacking, which is the prime reason for us not achieving our targets. However, when we wholeheartedly want something to happen and when it doesn’t happen, it takes time to come out of it.

“But how can you forget your dream only because the first step you encountered while chasing it was a failure?” – My sub-conscious mind kept asking me. I looked for a reason and came across one that might be invalid one – “What is left now? The first step itself wasn’t successful. How can I turn my dreams into reality? It’s all done. It is impossible to achieve anything now. Let me go with the normal crowd. Being too career-oriented is of no use now. I need to come to terms with the reality and act accordingly. Every dream cannot be fulfilled and thus it’s high time I let this get into my mind.”

It was already 3 a.m. and the battle, instead of ending, became further intensified. My sub-conscious mind started giving me examples of successful people, who encountered failures in the beginning but never gave up, which is the reason for their success. I didn’t seem convinced. However there was one thing that always backed my thoughts – hope. There is no reason to stop hoping. It may rain now but it won’t be raining forever, right? There is nothing that can stop you expect yourself. Even if the entire world goes against you, remember that you must trust yourself, no matter what. Self confidence is the driving force that helps people chase their dreams. Listen to yourself; don’t pay heed to what others say because the ones who discourage you are actually the ones who are afraid of what you are capable of. Do what gives you utmost pleasure; don’t let your dreams remain dreams. Work hard, don’t let failure overpower you. Take hold of the situation and hold the pen of your future.

Create your own bench mark. There will be days when you feel demotivated as things may not go the way you want it to go, but remember not to give up and remember your destination. When you think of quitting, remember why you started and determine how far you have reached already. Although the roads that you tread are winding, they will ultimately take you to your destination if you don’t give up. There would be thousands of people discouraging you and laughing at you when you fall but you must have the courage to stand up all by yourself and show them that you need no one by your side except your own self. It takes immense strength and courage to stand up against the whole world to achieve your goals. No force in this universe can ever stop you if you are determined to achieve what you wish.

Spend time with your parents and talk to them about what you actually want from life; no one can support you more than them. Analyse yourself and compare your past performances with the present and then deduce better plans. In this process the most major factor that will contribute to your success is the “I can do it” attitude. Remember when you were a child – how did you learn to walk? There was no one who told you that you won’t be able to walk. You didn’t listen to what others said. You fell down several times, got hurt in the process, but did you give up? NO! If you could do that when you were so young, what is stopping you now? Is it the peer pressure? Is it the societal pressure? Is it the fear of failure? NO! It is because you have started giving invalid reasons and then spend time convincing yourself that you won’t be able to do it. As a child, you didn’t know how to give excuses and believed in yourself. When you fell down, did your eyes search for someone to catch you? No! You yourself tried to stand again and this is what made you strong.

The best part is to believe in yourself and always chase your dreams no matter how hard the road gets. Make your parents proud of you. Be an inspiration to the coming generations. These beautiful lines by Swami Vivekananda gave me the courage to stand up again “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. Whatever you think that you will be; if you think yourself weak, weak you will be. If you think yourself strong, strong you will be.” Finally, I was able to convince myself to chase my dreams. My contended heart started throbbing faster to take the next step and my determined body decided to make my rest of the life, the best of my life.