“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
When we are young, we believe life would be so much easier when we grow up. Well, at least that’s what I imagined when I was a kid! I wouldn’t have to listen to preaching elders, I would do what I wanted. I would read my favorite authors instead of studying boring subjects. I would watch TV once I got back from work and not worry about completing tedious homework. I would be financially independent, earn my own money and spend it as I wanted without depending on parents for the money or permission. I would travel all over the world and never get tired, I would buy all the fashionable clothes, I would eat what I wanted – and so on!
Now, I look at my nieces and nephews and follow their train of thought – gosh! so similar to mine when I was their age! They can’t seem to wait to grow up into adults! And I envy them wishing secretly that I could go back to my childhood and be carefree and happy as children could be!
How does one tell these unsuspecting children that life’s not what it seems to be? That when you grow up, you’ll realize that life’s not as hunky dory as you thought it would be! At least in school, you had your lessons first, you studied and prepared, and then you wrote your exams. Real life is so different, you appear before the exams before you learn your lessons! And more often than not, it takes repeated exams for us to really get the lesson because unlike in school, there’s no set date for an exam, no prior notice, it just hits you BANG! In school, we had a syllabus and a time table that we followed, in life we don’t even know when our next exam is or what our next lesson’s gonna be like! Life and the universe love to spring a surprise on us hapless humans! No breaks and no vacation time either…aaaghhhh!
So, it’s no surprise that many of us feel that life’s a constant struggle! Even before you have figured out what life is all about and how to go about it, you get into relationships, get married and have children… Once children arrive, you are learning more than you are teaching them, more exams and more lessons – tougher and tougher they seem to get! No escaping life’s school!
Now, honestly, how often do you feel life’s a struggle? That you never get what you ask for? That life’s one step ahead of you and taking you by surprise with unexpected twists and turns? That you deserve a break and wish fervently that life would go find someone else to test and teach? How about the “successful” and “lucky” who seem to have everything that you wished for? How about those “cheerful” and “happy go lucky” people who don’t seem to have a care or worry in the world while here you are carrying the entire world on your shoulders ?
More than a year ago, I was having this intense discussion about life with my sis-in-law (the gist of which somewhat ran along the above lines) and how wonderful life was when we were children. Her son (my little nephew) is quite a handful and his sole mission in life seems to be teaching his parents one tough lesson after another! Talking about life, she suddenly remembered this poem she read in her son’s school diary and read it aloud for me. It goes like this … you can replace God with Life or the Universe or whatever that works for you!
I asked for strength.
God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom.
God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity.
God gave me brawn and brain to work.
I asked for courage.
God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for patience.
God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait.
I asked for love.
God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favors.
God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted.
I received everything I needed.
This poem is all over the web and the author is unknown! Whoever the author might have been, he/she has summarized life in a few wonderful sentences.
When I look back at my own life, I know how apt the above lines are. It’s not the easier parts of life that I remember and cherish but the moments and times when I had to stretch myself beyond what I believed I was capable of, when I tapped into an inner courage I never thought existed, when I had to wait and wait and every second was worth waiting for …
I have faced my own share of difficulties and overcoming them has given me confidence and strength. There’s nothing like confidence and strength that you have worked hard for.
Every problem I have solved has made me that much more wiser and kinder. It’s an amazing feeling when you get to the bottom of a problem and solve it, you have this incredible sense of achievement and nothing can beat that empowering feeling!
You receive love in life when you begin to give love. The more you give, the more you get back in return. The world is a circle of love. The more you help the troubled ones, the more life gives back to you. These are the times when I have realized how fortunate and blessed I was/am and what an enormous energy shift it is when you count your blessings and appreciate all that you have in life!
Life never bestows favors on anyone. People are “successful” and “lucky” by working on opportunities that life presents to them. Many a time I found my opportunities disguised as problems and difficulties – so beware! That has taught me never to underestimate what life has in store for you! Never!
Yes, life has never given me what I wanted always but it has given me more than that. It has helped me grow, evolve and be a better human being and that I consider the greatest favor life has bestowed upon me… and I can assure you it will continue to do so because there’s no cap to growing, evolving and being a better human being and I know there’s plenty of scope for me in that direction:)
It’s true, life is not easy. It has it’s ups and downs and highs and lows. There are times we are frustrated and disappointed and disillusioned and there are those wonderful moments when we are elated, upbeat and totally happy! Every person on this planet has his/her share of fortunes and misfortunes. It’s only when we start looking at failures and misfortunes and problems for what they truly are instead of what they appear to be, that life starts making any sense at all…and we begin to start living.
And when you realize that the sole purpose of life is to help you grow, evolve and be a better human being, you will no longer regret a single moment of your life so far … in retrospect everything that happened happened for a reason!
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