Table of Contents
- 5 more of the 25 lessons I learned by the time I turned 25
- 1. Have patience, see how things work-out
- 2. Sometimes things don’t work-out to push you in the right direction
- 3. Deal with your problems don’t run from them, you will come
- out stronger at the other end
- 4. Don’t think of achievement, think of experiences, like a story,
- how interesting was it?
- 5. Practice being humble,
- you might not be as good at it as you think
- Conclusion
A continuation of the first post in this series 25 lessons I learned by the time I turned 25 – Part 1
on 5th of September we celebrate teachers day in India and we make sure that we pay our respect
and gratitude to our teachers and contemplate over their importance in our life and how learning
from them has shaped our intellect and character.
In that case let’s go ahead and revisit 5 more lessons from the world’s greatest teacher
who is impartial and teaches all of us with utmost attention and makes sure that no
one is left out of the learning curve in life. The teacher being life itself.
The journey is the reward and the journey is the lesson. Those who pay attention and
are willing to assimilate those teachings in their lives, live a full-filling and a meaningful life.
Let us begin now.
5 more of the 25 lessons I learned by the time I turned 25
1. Have patience, see how things work-out
Now you will see me mentioning 2014 a lot and sometimes even 15. Those 2 years of my life
have been very challenging in a lot of ways and on a lot of fronts. Personally and professionally.
2016 wasn’t exceptionally better either but whatever I learned and started practicing from the
former 2 years really gave me the kind of mindset which allowed me to stay focused and work
thoughtfully towards all my goals. At this point in life I was and am at this moment too more
focused on heading in the direction of making the kind of life I want to live and experience.
As I see now while I write this post, It makes me think and wonder that I guess the most
challenging times of our lives, teaches us the most and gives us the lessons which will last
a lifetime and will become the guiding principles of where we want to head from here.
As you can see right here, I am writing this in 2017 and have mentioned 3 years before that.
To where I was in 14 and where I am now, is just a small part of where I really want to be.
I sure am way ahead than where I was and I feel extremely happy and grateful about it but
also I have a long way to go. I knew this in 2014 as well but I wasn’t so entirely clear about it.
It’s weird to think of it now, the clarity is always paramount somehow, even so when the time
passes and we mature into something else entirely, we understand our clarity was only a part
of something bigger and we yet still have to grasp so much more.
What I learned during those years was, have patience, wait and see how things work out.
Meanwhile you work reverently and earnestly towards whatever that which you desire,
just make sure that it’s not based on someone else, a person. It should be a personal ambition.
You don’t always have to do something, or say something, sometimes you just have to
stop, observe, contemplate, reevaluate and patiently wait until a clear purpose
for forward action is presented to you.
No amount of hurry or worry will give you any answers. You will find no solutions in such a
state, you might create more problems or give up entirely because you don’t have patience
to deal with the current situation and that will be a big mishap.
Now at this point in my life I see how the 3 years before make perfect sense. Like Steve jobs
once said, “You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking
backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will connect in your future. You have to trust
in something- Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
So put your trust in the future, not blindly but by working towards it wholeheartedly. Work
is karma and karma is what we have come to do on this planet. So do your karma and trust
in the journey that is life, do not let your confusion or frustration or misfortune derail you from
performing your karma which has been assigned to you.
Take responsibility. Have faith. Do your work-karma, continue learning and keep your
focus tightly knit on only the most essential things in your life. That way you will always
come out more satisfied and wise from any life situation. Patience is the key.
Now I worry so much less than I ever used to worry about, I have always kind of been carefree,
but now I feel like I am on a whole different level. I just observe calmly, wait patiently and all
this while I work with things that satisfy me. The chaos is much less and order is much more,
right amidst the chaos as well.
2. Sometimes things don’t work-out to push you in the right direction
I was a culinary arts student, the subject was taken consciously and was not a forced one, but
my heart really lies with storytelling. In the form of photography, film-making and writing.
This was more like a safe net slow plan to eventually shift into things that really mattered
while working in a profession, even though routine does not bother me as much.
However in 2015, I failed a semester, I failed only because of the attendance not because I
could not handle the studies, whatever might be the reason, failing was a huge setback in
a certain way, as now I had to commit a full extra year for graduating from college once
and for all. I was working along the lines of a small food business right after college and while
I make some money start professionally following writing and film-making.
I was learning about it everyday, I was practicing but the urgency wasn’t so powerful.
I had a laid back attitude towards it. However the day I realized it’s going to take another
whole year just to get out of college and I had visibly nothing to do at this point in my life,
I have to really think soundly about this and get committed for some insane hard work.
I wasn’t disappointed or anything but I felt worried about the amount of time I will be
wasting now.
That same year, an old friend of mine came over in my city to study music production
for a year. It was quite coincidental that I was free for an entire year now and one of my
friends who has a great intellectual connection with me, comes over for as much time.
That year was very much mutually beneficial, I guided him with some things in his life,
which I guess definitely required me to be around and He made me aware about all
things blogging and how the internet works. We also rejuvenated our love for books.
In the hustle and bustle of college and routine, we had completely forgotten about
reading books that matter.
He had brought a whole bag of books with him from home, I made some new purchases
as well. We were reading everyday, about business, about health, psychology, art, history
computers, self-help and what not. I won’t be lying if I say along with this we at-least read
30 blogs per-day.
What followed was discussion, contemplation and clarifying our vision for the future.
I was also learning very steadfastly about photography and film-making. The speed was
great and the application was as consistent, my camera stayed with me wherever I went.
My love for self-education sky rocketed, I could clearly see how much of a difference it
makes when we consistently, by self-interest and inquiry continue learning with a focused
end goal in mind. That is when I came up with the idea for my book. Now I cannot disclose
as much at this point what I am really writing about but once something is in place I will
let you know.
2015 single-handedly laid down the entire foundation and ground work for all the work
we ever want to do in our life. Our vision was clarified about everything.
All this would not have been possible if I had passed and continued my education in a
linear fashion, the failing actually turned out to be a boon and especially a game changer
in a lot of practical and experiential ways.
Writing, photography and film-making became an ultimate priority without waiting for
a business to start functioning and making money, any funds which were required to
begin with any of this were acquired from working at different places and by freelancing.
The experience which came along with such practices was even more wonderful and
added certain interesting chapters to my life. I enjoy seeing things like a story.
So always look for where you are being directed.
3. Deal with your problems don’t run from them, you will come
out stronger at the other end
Now I don’t have any particular incident to recall for conveying this point, however you
can assume it’s just a natural understanding that came my way, when I was surrounded by
a lot of problems.
At a certain point I just decided to hold my ground and stay in the problem until it’s solved.
Whatever needed my attention, whichever person I had to deal with or whatever deadline
I had to meet, I just went there completely. Even if I was prepared or not prepared.
If I was prepared I would just follow the course of my preparation and if I wasn’t I would
just play an active role in the whole scenario, if it could be solved, great. If it couldn’t, then
alright. Lesson learned, not going to happen the next time.
All I did was face it head on and deal with the consequences actively and thoughtfully,
sometimes it was a lot of hard-work, however it was always satisfying and reassuring at the
end that if you are willing to make it happen, you can make it happen.
All you need to have is a commitment for change and not forgetting the lessons you have
learned along the way. All problems are solved when you make sure that they don’t
happen again. Stop being lazy, stop procrastinating, stop being timid, be adventurous
and find out what lies ahead at the end of the dark tunnel.
4. Don’t think of achievement, think of experiences, like a story,
how interesting was it?
Sometimes you don’t always get what you wanted. A lot of times you do if you just notice.
I have started noticing it more vividly now. At times like this when you think everything
has gone against you, all you have to do is, think of it like a story.
Now why do I want you to do that? the reason is because as you know its life and its meant to
be lived, it’s not always about achieving or gaining something, or crying over the loss
of something. Things just happen, be glad that whatever good or beautiful you experieinced
before the mishap was extremely rewarding and beautiful.
If a species knows nothing but joy and comfort, how will they evolve and grow into the next
best thing?
Refer to the point 3 of this post as well, reason being, when something does not happen your
way, you are being directed towards something more meaningful and useful, only if you are
aware enough to look.
You never loose, you simply just always learn. What you learn though is of the utmost importance.
If you learn to adopt a victim mindset, then you have completely gone of track, your story is
becoming a self-pity adventure.
Your own personal story is great, you just have to wait, think, connect the dots in a sensible
way and work forward from their to craft a beautiful plot for yourself.
While watching a movie we can bear the misfortune of a character, like of Peter in spider-man,
if you noticed, he is kind of broke, in a bad job, uncle dead and other personal problems.
Not a very fortunate life isn’t it? but however we still enjoy and watch the movie nonetheless,
not because we have a cynical humor or liking but because as a whole the story is great.
We understand somewhere deep down the character is making some major progress, in who
he/she is as a person and how it’s changing their life one scene at a time.
So start enjoying your own personal story and become enthusiastically involved in making
progress as a well formed character. Become the best possible character of your story and
always strive to try new roles which can add that extra kick in your tale. I made a point
about trying new things in the first part, read it here.
5. Practice being humble,
you might not be as good at it as you think
I have always liked myself when I have been humble and kind and I am always glad that most
of the times I am very humble about everything. Even so on certain occasions I have noticed
that there is some arrogance in my humble actions too.
At such times I have noticed, people around me, new and old proving themselves more sorted
and understanding in terms of humility and grace. At such times I have felt sad at the sorry
state of my self-righteous humbleness.
This is the single most human quality that we all should pay some extra attention to, I cannot
explain to you why is it so important and other than being a force of alignment in this world,
what more perks you gain but whatever reason it is, somewhere deep down I feel, that being
humble is being free from all boundaries set by man.
Majority of your inhibitions, conflicts and prejudices will melt away like ice in water, when
you start being humble, as consciously as possible.
You might be very good at it but if you just start being more aware about it, you will grow in
more ways than you previously thought was possible, you will understand that just by your
presence you can be a pillar of support for someone.
Conclusion
Everything is an ongoing process and this are things that stood out to me the most, when
I looked back on my story so far, things that I learned and inspired me were the one’s
which came to my mind, when I first thought of writing this article.
Fun fact continues: I was 21 when the picture above was shot, it was my first serious
venture into photography and wildlife. More into birds, it was a
fantastic time, with rich memories and a lot of nature appreciation
building up in me in the form of a great story.