From the very childhood, our
parents, guardians, elders and teachers have been telling us that if you do the
right thing right away, you will develop yourself well and you will get success
in all your endeavors more or less in a matching manner, sooner or later. They have also been trying to
impress that there is no short cut to success. Only consistent hard work with
proper knowledge, planning, dedication and commitment will guarantee progress,
success and happiness in life. There are several motivational books on the
subject in the market to underline these points.
There are thousands of true stories as well about many of our great men in all
walks of life who struggled indefatigably year after year to achieve seemingly
unachievable goals, may it be freedom of the country from slavery of foreign
rule or the socio-economic revolutions for an equitable and just society or
numerous great scientific inventions. Otherwise also, whose life in this world
has been without any struggle, long or short, tough or slightly difficult?
If that is so, then why do we suffer at times with negative thoughts and feel
demotivated and demoralized when confronted with a difficult situation where we
are required to come out of our comfort zone to perform the job
successfully? It is painful to find that more and more people are joining
this fold and making their life as well as the life of their family members
quite miserable without any valid reason or rhyme. Why does this happen?
A number of experts are of the opinion that it is due to our reluctance to
embrace struggle as our natural companion in life despite knowing very well
that the struggle in everybody’s life is not unusual or uncommon. It is rather
part of our long dynamic life cycle and we should be thankful for this as only
by travelling through our own struggle route, we become able to develop
strength to face our present and future in a better manner. That’s why
Henry Rollins says, “Strength is the product of struggle; you must do what
others don’t to achieve what others won’t.”
Many writers and thinkers have been saying it in different ways that as the
gold gets a better sheen and shine after going through the test of fire, so is
the human being who is required to go through the struggle cycle of varying
magnitude to achieve the desired goal in life. To say in other words, the
fruits of success become sweeter when it is achieved through the route of
struggle. Amos Bronson Alcott puts it in this way, ‘Success is sweet and
sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats.’
In fact, struggle exposes us to many challenges which ultimately pave the way
to our manifold accomplishments and progress – may it be our enhanced level of
self-confidence, commitment, knowledge base, dedication, empathy and compassion.
The harder the struggle, the more glorious is the success.
Think for a while about the historical feat of Edmund Hillary of New
Zealand and his co-mountaineer Tenzing Norgay of Nepal who unfurled
the flag of success for the first time on 29029 feet high Mount Everest in May,
1953 by putting the exemplary level of struggle despite mountain of odds during
the course of their expedition. There are many such historical feats in other
fields of activity as well, of course with a common message that great
friendship with struggle guarantees great success. Finally, the golden words of
Noam Chomsky who says, “Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above.
They come out of the struggle from below.”
As always, I'm keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, request you to post comments to share your views and experiences.
** Published in "Morning India" daily
# Click here to enjoy my Blog in Hindi, "Chalte, Chalte" (चलते, चलते)
(hellomilansinha@gmail.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment