We live in a funny world where successful attempts of risks are celebrated and unsuccessful attempts or failures are frowned upon! The cultural pressure of surviving a failed risk psychologically (let alone financially), at times exceeds the efforts that would take to succeed the very first time. Hence, risk takers are so hard to come across.
One of the biggest regrets in my life (Yes, I have regrets! I am not perfect.) is that I did not take enough risks to follow my passion(s) earlier on in my life. The fear of failure and playing it safe can be the biggest cause of failure. (What an irony of life, isn’t it?) The sooner one realizes that, the better. Sadly, we are brought up in an environment that teaches kids from a young age to take the safer route, have regular and conventional hobbies – most of the times not leaving any room for creative mindset building, out-of-the-box thinking. That’s just the way our society is, people appreciate creative art works and unconventional ideas when they are having “intelligent discussions”, but refrain from inculcating a culture of these for the future generation.
I am not against conventional mindset, it is equally important for the society. Being part of the millennial generation who survived the 2008 economic crisis marginally by a few months, I know the value of a well-paying established “conventional” job (to pay-back education loans!). Walking into my job interview a couple of months later, would have meant that there actually would have been no job to be interviewed for in the first place, a plight many of my friends did go through during that period.
At the same time, I do believe many of us let our creative ideas and passions die in the process of having a “conventional” life and regular routine. Also, you see many eyes rolling at those who follow their passion and take a break from the nine-to-five routine.
I remember someone at work telling me, “Why are you doing this? This is absolutely pointless.”, when I was making a crucial career move by following one of my passions costing me much of my life’s savings, which seemed risky (maybe even fatal) to some. I just smiled at him and told myself “You would never understand.” (Yeah, I love sarcasm style of humor! Don’t you? 😉 ) And don’t get me wrong here, I do believe in collective growth. Given a chance, I would love to be an agony aunt and give a lecture on the importance of following one’s passion and taking worthwhile risks. (This blog is intended for the same.) In-fact sometimes I feel sorry for those who don’t realize that by playing it safe, they are actually risking it all. But as the saying goes, ‘Unsolicited advice is seldom appreciated’ and more often than not a risk taking attitude is ridiculed and laughed upon.
Recently during a crisis situation, someone gave me the best advice in life – with risk comes failures of all kinds and if you’re addicted to taking and enjoying risks, simply suck it up and endure it. (Yes, I Tweeted about it! I like to keep things dramatic. 😀 )
You gotta enjoy the bad days as much as you enjoy the good ones, and as they say there are more bad days in life than good ones. So may be you need to enjoy the bad ones more! And, I simply cannot describe the inner satisfaction I feel when all that hard work, tense moments, agony and hardships of following your passion pay off. (I cried during one such moment in my life. Happy tears, ofcourse! 😀 )
Absolutely adore the song by One Republic, inspires me to the core every time I listen to it.
Hope when you take that jump
You don’t fear the fall
Hope when the water rises
You build a wallHope when the crowd screams out
They’re screaming your name
Hope if everybody runs
You choose to stayHope that you fall in love
And it hurts so bad
The only way you can know
Is give it all you haveAnd I hope that you don’t suffer
But take the pain
Hope when the moment comes
You’ll say…I did it All
I owned every second
That this world could give
I saw so many places
The things that I did
Yeah, with every broken bone
I swear I lived
Image Source: imgquotes.com
Chronicles of my destiny 