When the winds of change blow, it’s up to us make the move. There is an opportunity waiting for each one of us.
By Nazarul Islam
There is wisdom in our struggles. My friend Murad Jameel, an erstwhile, celebrated Architect posted an inspiring image with a beautiful focus on life’s adversity. Since creation, the struggle of life has proved to be one of our greatest blessings.
It makes us patient, sensitive, and humble. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. In my classroom, when I stand in front of my students and tell them to never give up their passions to chase dreams in life, I speak with conviction and purpose. I have tried to live up to my words. I remind them why I am here to struggle for my passion.
I am here to keep believing in myself and keep trying to achieve my dreams in life. I ask them to live their dreams. Breathe their dreams and never give up on them. With the widespread use of social media, more often than not we are prone to believing that everyone else’s life is perfect (unlike ours) and that the whole world has life figured out (except us). In our world today, it is so convenient to get wrapped around a not so healthy mindset when we have a setback in life or things don’t go exactly how we pictured them.
It’s only human to feel disappointed. Sometimes in life, there’s a situation where we may have worked really hard for something, yet it seems like no matter what we just don’t get the break we needed. These feelings are all very normal, and they’re things that almost every single human on the planet goes through at some point. Yet for most of us, it can be very hard and complicated to come to terms with those feelings.
Perhaps some of us were taught very well how to deal with those feelings, but many others perhaps just learned to smile and pretend that everything is great. This might sound a bit intense saying that out loud, but unfortunately this is the reality of many of us. That’s why it’s so important to recognize the negativity of these thoughts and to put them in perspective!
Our journey to success is not about avoiding rough seas, but about learning to surf through the waves
While dealing with unresolved feelings and trying to overcome life struggles, it is quite easy (and very natural) to become even more depressed or sad in the process, particularly when not knowing which exact and definitive steps to take in order to change how we feel. We as humans often are not born equipped to process these things, and we need to develop the skills to wait for things to improve.
Patience is a virtue, I have heard, but it’s way easier said than done! Still, it’s extremely important that we at least start to work on the way we approach our more negative thoughts, so we can better understand and change them. If you have visited London city’s famous Oxford Street, you will likely hear a thousand voices that are always crying aloud. All are tense, all are real, all are urged out of their speakers by the pressure of making a living, finding a bed, somehow keeping afloat on the bounding, careless, remorseless tide of the street.
And even a moralist, who is, one must suppose, since he can spend the afternoon dreaming, a man with a balance in the bank—even a moralist must allow that this gaudy, bustling, vulgar street reminds us that life is a struggle; that all building is perishable; that all display is vanity; from which we may conclude . . . My humble request for a given day is just try to get through the hassles.
The small stuff—waiting on a bus, eating, having a simple conversation—is too much to bear, and you fight to make it through the next minute without screaming. You look around at people going about their day—smiling, laughing, having meaningless encounters and conversations as if living was effortless, and you curse yourself and your mind and you wonder if someday things will get easier, and you become terrified of what will happen if they
We are all walking one fire road or another, be it paved by relational upheaval or financial upheaval, physical or emotional or the general inconveniences of life. But when you and I come along with a posture of peace, or with gentle and kind words, or with an offer of prayer or a hug, or with anything that looks and acts friendly.
You may feel as though you have used a fire extinguisher—the flames that burned hot, finally settle down. Finally, our journey to success is not about avoiding rough seas, but about learning to surf through the waves. When the winds of change blow, it’s up to us make the move. There is an opportunity waiting for each one of us.
You will only be lucky if this moment comes back to you another time.
Read: Celebrating our failures….
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The Bengal-born writer Nazarul Islam is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America. He is author of a recently published book ‘Chasing Hope’ – a compilation of his articles.
