Kids are always very spontaneous. Whatever is said to them they don't usually follow because they are curious to know what happens when they do what they were told not to do! They always are in the exploration mode to find out. They don't really worry about the consequences, and I highly doubt if they ever know a word called consequence ?? They always tend to figure things out on their own in their own time. Right from taking the first step, to talking the first word to having their first solid diet to even going to bed, it's all in their own schedule! To think of it, that’s how it should work out right, we having control over our life and doing things at our own pace!
But you know what, being like a child is one of the most difficult things to be. Being yourself is not an easy job when the world around you is quick to point out and say “What is wrong with you?” And our grown up human minds are wired in a way that we tend to listen to everyone and everything that is said around us. Because of that,we are either scared to try out or feel useless and hopeless for trying out! What an irony for being true to yourself!!
It is never easy to take control of our lives when we have many people around us bombarding us with hundred and one opinions. Yes they might be giving us suggestions or sharing their own perspectives out of good will but that is when we start to loose our confidence or rather our focus on what we need to do, how we need to do including when we need to do.
There is that evergreen cliche that pops up on every new year day, “We have a book with 365 pages ready to be filled in, go ahead and fill it with your own stories!” It looks really good on a reel or a WhatsApp status. But trust me, not many of us will be willing to be the author of our own story. We have grown up in a way that we always look up to someone who has travelled ahead of us and tend to follow their paths as they have already made a way. We always feel safe when we don't take any risk of charting out into an unknown destination because we don't know where we would land and what kind of surprise will await for us there. So there is no question of making our own path because safety first, right !!
We have a society where we are always told to do what other successful people have done earlier and follow their paths. Don’t get me wrong, no harm in following the footsteps of people who have tasted success. We will sort of have a guideline or at least a live example before us on what and what not to do to be successful. But remember, those people were once the barrier breakers who took control of their own lives and did not follow anyone else’s path to reach where they are now. They marked out their own paths, ventured out with only confidence and faith in themselves to succeed. They took the less travelled road or for some where there was no road at all,they had to create one and go!
But you know what is special about them, these path breakers did not mind taking the risk of creating their own destiny and taking control of their own future. They would have definitely faced lots of struggles to reach a point where they are successful now. Surely must have had lots of doubts about the choices they had made or about the times where they had neglected good opportunities. But I can confidently say none of those successful people would be willing to trade even a single day of their lives, be it good or bad for anything else as what they are today is because of all those earlier days and the lessons it has taught them. Every single day had its own significance and definitely those are lessons they wouldn’t have got anywhere else.
So how did successful people become successful? A simple but a concrete answer is, “They crafted their own story and they authored it from day one”. They did not give the control of their future to anyone but had it with them all along and scripted every single day with care and courage. They were eager to know what lies ahead and did not waver from that at any cost. They waited for their time to shine, had made plans to work it out in their own timing, gave a deaf ear to people who criticised or kept calling out asking to do things the way it is usually done by everyone!
It takes lots of will power and strength to march on when you know everyone who started off with you, followed the world and are successful! Travelling at our own pace, at our own schedule with whatever resource we have gives us the freedom to write our own story. We write and no one else has our pen. Right or wrong it gives us the grit to take ownership of what we did and gives us the maturity to face things head on. Even if we find out we have taken a wrong turn, we can rewrite our story and get back on track. The story of us must be written by us at our own pace.
Like children, learn to walk, run or talk at your own pace. The world already has enough people to follow scripted paths. Let us be the author of our own stories! It might be difficult, we might not be used to taking charge, we could still be in the starting line, so what? It's our life, our future and nothing to lose when we create a new road to march on. Someday someone out there will talk about our story and will say, “What guts it took to script their own path when the world was moving in a different direction!”
One of the famous quotes by Nicholas Lore says, “It takes courage to be the author of your life” . When you are the author of your life, you can rewrite your story and re-route your path any number of times you want to because no one but only you will know how to reach your destination! Yes, the dreams we have might be big, we might have doubts, we might even be at the verge of quitting, but don’t quit! We are closer to the breakthrough than we think and stronger than we know.
We are the best authors we could possibly get to script our story! Own your story with pride because it's your work and after all it's your life you are scripting, you better be writing the best story ever told!
Happy authoring!!
About the Author
Shalini Solomon comes with close to 15 years of industry experience in the Human Resources space. She is currently designated as Head - People and Values with Kazh Fintech Private Limited. She likes to interact with people and makes sure they have the space to grow and learn and are free to work without any pressure. People first is always her approach. She holds an Engineering degree in Computer Science.