Life – A friend recently posted this status on Facebook…..’Journeys are different’ …..and I think that sentence nicely sums up an important L of my life…..LIFE itself. My own life…..so unique to me…..like a roller coaster…..whose ups and downs are mine and mine alone. With my joys, my sorrows, my victories, my inner conflicts, my inspirations, my laughter, my tears, my smiles, my dreams, my doubts, my fears, my strengths…..my life’s journey is unique and different than that of any other person on this planet…..quite amazing really!
Lessons – Life is a great teacher. It keeps handing down important LESSONS to you. And if you are lucky you pick up on these lessons which help you in your journey of life. Last week, I was watching the show SAREGAMA Little Champs on Indian television. It is a music competition for children. On that episode, three boys and three girls were sent into the challenge round. Among them, one boy and one girl would be eliminated at the end of the round based on their performance. One girl (around 10-11 years of age) started her performance and stopped half way saying she felt her voice did not sound good and so, could she please try again? The judges declined saying…it is a competition, we are sorry but you cannot sing again. That day, she was the girl who got eliminated…perhaps if she had completed her singing she might have had a chance of staying on. Then the very same day, I read about 17 year old Nathan Kotylak, an elite Canadian athlete whose actions in the Vancouver riots could most likely cost him his lifelong dream to complete in the Olympics. And just like that, on the same day, through the happenings in the lives of other people, Life had not only handed me an important lesson but also reinforced it…..Sometimes, there just aren’t any second chances. Such lessons keep coming…through happenings in my own life and happenings in others’ lives…..lessons that teach…lessons that make me reflect and think.
Learning curve - I have been through many learning curves in my life. The first time I heard this term was in college. As my professor drew a graph trying to explain the term LEARNING CURVE, it was just another term to me at that time. And then I experienced it in every job that I have worked in my life….every job. The term made sense and usually at the end of the first day at any job when I felt overwhelmed and was left wondering if I will ever be able to do my job, it was the term learning curve that gave me assurance. And now I understand, there really is such a thing and once you get over it, you become really good at what you do. But the most challenging learning curve in my life to date was when I experienced motherhood for the first time. My parents who had come to the US for my delivery went back to India when my son was 5 months old. And here I was, a first time mother, alone with my son for 12 hours a day (while my husband was at work) and feeling quite overwhelmed. Sometimes, my son would not eat, sometimes he would not go to sleep (and trying to put him to sleep on my shoulder would just annoy him), he would cry, he would have a runny nose (sending me into a state of panic). Yes, I really experienced a steep learning curve then. But like everywhere else that I had experienced this curve…I learnt. I learnt that he would eat if I entertained him with stories that I made up, I learnt he would sleep if I sat down and rocked him to sleep on my legs, I learnt I could easily make him stop crying if I distracted him with something else, I learnt that a runny nose is just a runny nose…sign of a ‘common’ cold. Needless to say, raising my daughter has been a much better experience because the flustered, unsure, does not know what to do mother has climbed up the learning curve and evolved into a confident, sure, knows what she is doing Mom. There has still been a learning curve though not as steep because the things that worked with my son don’t work with my daughter. She will not sleep if carried or rocked. She likes to be left alone in her crib where she just goes off to sleep. No amount of distractions can make her stop crying….they only serve in making her cry louder. What works is simply wiping her tears and giving her a kiss…..yes, as simple as that.
Lists – My day starts with my morning tea, one Hindi song that I listen to while drinking my tea and my list for the day. Making a list was a habit that started when I got married, came to the US and then got a full-time job. Suddenly, my whole life had changed and how! Here I was, with a job, with a house to take care of and add to that 2 hours of travel time everyday….and I had more things on my plate than I knew what to do with. After the initial frustration and struggle at trying to do too many things, I figured it was time to get a little organized and that is how 12 years ago, the habit of making LISTS started. It is just a daily list with things that need to get done during the day…since I work from home, my work deadlines are usually in it, so are the things that need to be taken care of on the home front…..and for the last year or so, I have made an effort to add to the list at least one thing that I ‘like’ to do….so reading, watching a movie, blogging….these are showing up more often helping me achieve a little balance in life. And yes, today’s list has ‘Blog’ on it which I will go check off as soon as I post this.
Signing off wanting to always ‘Listen’ (not just hear) and thankful for the ‘Love’ and ‘Laughter’ in my life and this quote by Leonardo Da Vinci
‘It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.’
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