Life lesson by a Tiny Warrior

Today in the morning while I was in hurry to kick start my routine day, one tiny thing held my attention. It was this:

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This is a normal, not so good image, right? There is nothing much attention seeking, right? Now have a look on larger picture:

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The above image explains it all. One may see the broken tiles or the imprints of white wash or the old fashioned dull wall or the gas pipeline or for that matter, the uneven plants. But can one see the centre point in this, the source of motivation? Yes, it is that small tiny creature firmly standing at the base of the wall. Its peeping slightly out through the hole of wall and trying to understand what the world outside the boundaries is.

This tiny plant is having a lot of similarity with our lives. It gives an explanation to many of our doubts.

Often we follow the patterned rules and roads in our life. We hesitate to take steps or live a life which is not similar to that of others or opposite to the societal rules. We resist to step on the roads not taken. We prefer to blindly follow the crowd rather than following what our real self wants.

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Every one of us have got different fingerprints. Just imagine what the nature in itself is explaining to us by this. It educates us that each individual has his or her own existence and life. There is no differentiation by the nature. My question to you is when we are different then why do we follow the patterns or dogmas? Why don’t we understand what does we want or what is our liking, strengths and weaknesses? Why don’t we explore ourselves in the given circumstances and then set our life goals? There is no ‘by default button’ in our life. Goals and life must be led as per what you want (after a constructive research) and what is possible in the atmosphere in which you live. Instead, we follow what other’s are planning for themselves. Often we prefer to abide the societal norms. It’s good to abide but how many times you tried to understand the underlying concept behind the norm. Nothing is permanent, we need to asses whether that norm is still applicable or not. We don’t prefer to take the untraveled roads (life patterns).

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Whenever there is anything outside the societal or own made imaginary boundaries, we resist our steps further. Also, we often hide behind our circumstances, our life, family and fellows, the materialistic or immaterialistic resources and give explanations of following the patterns. The tiny plant in image is not aiming to grow under the safe shadow of its elder buddies. It’s even not lamenting by giving excuses like, “other big plants have taken up the resources (food via soil) by expansion of roots or I am not given the opportunity or I was not given the proper care or I am alone etc.”

The tiny one has chosen what it wants in the given scenario. It may be exposed to harsh realities of the outside world. But its gathering great courage and strength to take tiny steps ahead.

There is one more benefit when we follow unpatterned paths. Anyhow the ultimate result is of two types: success or failure. There isn’t a middle path for goals. So, on each path the result is going to be one among the two types.

Also, if we try and understand the unexplored situation in terms of probability (scientifically), then the better chances of winning is in the case where there is lesser number of people competing. In today’s technologically advanced global world, opportunities are numerous. But the only thing which matters is to tap them at the right moment with full preparation. But with the growing population and awareness the competition is increasing rapidly, this is a threat.

You never know that from a tiny warrior (in above image) you may transform into this:

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And from a surviving warrior (above image) you may transform by going through a rough road and taking pains into the following:

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The paths on both sides ie the crowded one and the unexplored one are tough and there is no hundred percent sure shot success formula. But one thing is for sure, you in the latter case will be satisfied that, “Yes I lived like a warrior, confident about my own potentials, I took my own decisions by brainstorming.”

You will have that contententment of at least trying and pushing yourself to your own decisions. The motivation will come automatically as the decision will be of your choice. You will enjoy each phase of the process. You will learn a lot throughout the process of setting goals, preparation, assessment, execution and finally the result.

Success or failure depends on character and vision rather than external factors like circumstances or near ones.

Sneha Shrivastava