After a long time I get time from hectic (enjoyable though) schedule to write about which I thought of long back. It’s about a time when I first time saw a movie “Shawshank Redeemption” and heard a single statement which came out as title of this blog – “Get busy living or Get busy dying”.
This is about you, me and everyone who have joined some organization recently/few years back, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure it feels boring to some fellows and for others it has been exciting to move towards achieving goals.
But Question to those who are excited towards goals is – forever? Till the end of life??
There is always a time in life when person is truly overjoyed – THRILLED in better words. U say it first day in new school/college or Organization - when you were getting ready, you felt ecstasy in your heart. Hell lot of Curiosity about new things coming a ways and enliven to unfold folded things. It’s thrill which I call as THE THRILL within we all that makes us feel truly ALIVE every day. To ask you is – how will you keep this THRILL shining? Or to put it another way, how to be happy most - if not all the time?
Where do these THRILL comes from? I think we all born with THRILL in us. Little children have a million THRILLS when little chocolate or toy can make them jump. They get THRILLS from creaky swings in the park. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.People running here and there for daily bread and I can see is only “THRILLS” keeping them feel alive.
But when I see older people, the THRILL is difficult to find. Recently I went to barber shop where I met one OLDER man who almost had experience of ~70-75 years life. It pinched my heart when I could not see this THRILL in that DUDE. I could hear from him that “he has lived enough and now he was ready to fly away leaving beautiful life gifted by GOD”. That said – now he does not love his life. In-fact as we age, the THRILL fades. People whose THRILL has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter.
I did not get chance to ask why his THRILL is lost to that OLD guy, but I could only say him “You have not completed century Sir-ji”. Intentionally I used word: Sir-ji – I must mention. This was all I could do on that moment. It also reminded me Kareena in Jab we Met - in the first half vs the second half. That is what happens when the THRILL is lost. Instantly I asked myself if it will happen to me also. How would I save my THRILL? And all I come out with finest answers to this biggest question of my/your/everyone’s life.
Answer:
THRILL is like open FLAME. You have to feed it continuously and you have to guard against storms. To feed – we all have to have goals/never ending hope/unbreakable spirit. Try for it; try for it until you have it. However, never keep your goal to achieve something rather always have goal to do better every time u put new try. It is human nature when he gives try and cannot achieve fruitful out of it, he gets tired and fears to put new try again – but they normally forget is the point where they feel tired, they are losing their THRILL; they are cutting down their THRILL and why to do that?Just because they are tired? I used word Unbreakable SPIRIT – nobody born with it, It’s we who can nurture this SPIRIT. It’s our positive thinking; it’s our attitude that can change it. Few years back I got one SMS which is more worthy than you expect it to be: “If you want to achieve something which u never had, you have to do SOMETHING you never did”. This SOMETHING is nothing but giving a new try which u never did in past. NEW that said Complete NEW.
Success is to put a new try, strive, improve and achieve next level. Success is not Company paying you 7 lac per annum, neither its buying car nor house. Do you really believe buying Bungalows/Car/7 lac package is the purpose of life? If that was the case, Bill gates won't be working hard to make a better Windows, as he already have billions and billions of dollars. Neither Shahrukh nor Aamir would be working to get new challenging roles. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them feel ALIVE and they do not want to lose THRILL of life. They want to be busy in being ALIVE not being NON-LIVING. Just getting better from current levels feels good. You already know that you cannot become Tendulkar still you play cricket to achieve next level of expertise. Striving for that next level is most, most and super most important. Goal is to achieve next level in career, academic or any activity u take on hand – in short.
One more thing about feeding THE THRILL - don't take life seriously. I learned this from one Yoga Guru. When I used to go Gym 6 months back, my yoga teacher used to make students laugh during classes using dirty jokes(Non-veg jokes in better word ;)). One student asked her if these dirty jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious,All you want to achieve from Yoga in the end is happiness and that's what my jokes are doing.
Normally people take it on serious track, when somebody criticizes their creation. My closest friend named Deepen (Don’t open your eyes wide Deepen if you are reading ;) :P), normally criticize or gets angry when I do not play TT well. He neither likes my service nor the way I copy/adopt other’s playing style. But will that anger or criticism break my spirit of enjoying TT? No – never. This criticism will not/must not blow my THRILL up. As I said may be I cannot be Deepen(Tendulkar) but I will reach my next level.
Eventually - It’s common human nature of not able to see good going of others (not talking about you Deepen – Relax, if you are reading :P). Today I write something, they will like it but they will also get jealous how I couldn’t write such things. They will start making criticism to overcome their jealousy (to strive for better criticism is also common human nature now a days :P :D ;) ). Some will say it’s copied from somewhere – he cannot write this and I will Question myself – did I really write that bad? I will be serious losing my THRILL and will write better but again I will have is Criticism. Normally we get dual opinions on our actions (it’s about all activities we do – Drawing, joking, writing, daily fun-masti, Work at office or anything). There is plenty of praise; there is intense criticism as well. My/Your BOSS will clap for good work and will condemn if we did it wrong. Be sincere towards your work but don’t hinder your spark by getting serious about it like “ohhhhh god my boss dint like it, what will happen in my appraisal?” – Damn f#&k it. If we will take it all seriously, how will we move forward? Or rather, how will we live? Where is our personal enjoyment? Life is never meant to be taken seriously. Life is very short if u really can see it. Start countdown Nowwwwwww. Get busy living or get busy dying. Final call is - BE HAPPY GO PERSON for all time.
Inspired from Chetan Bhagat's speech: jESS.
To be continued in Next Blog….
