Wednesday, 8 June 2016

#5 ~ Toastmasters ~ Project 5 : Where the mind is without fear



Does that daunting fear of death haunt you?  Do you worry about your plans of future? The fear of losing someone closest to your heart? What would happen if you don’t get a promotion as deserved? How will your life change if you miss an opportunity that could have changed the course of your life? What would happen if you run out of money someday?

The answer to all your questions and the questions popping up right now in your minds is pretty simple: You are the creator of your life and not destiny.
We often toil and slog hard beyond our capacities to reach the apogee of success. In this process, we work day and night and forget about the world, but suddenly, series of scary thoughts start barraging our brains and we begin to anticipate about our future life and what it has in stored for us. Why do we start deciding about the future that is yet to arrive? Aren’t we confident enough that things will turn up well only when they are performed in the right manner with the right frame of mind and with the consent of destiny?

I vividly remember while I was preparing for my High School Board exams, the performance pressure created by the Principal, teachers and parents was no less than an illness. As the exams were approaching, thoughts were scaring me even more.  But instead of getting motivated by their statements “We trust your hard work, you are surely going to make it.” ”I know you are the next topper”, I was more concerned about “what if I am don’t perform well?”, “what if I am not the topper and I flunk in the exam?” And while I was taking the exam, these daunting thoughts were hovering over my mind and for I moment, I thought I should quit, I can’t do it. What am I going to tell my mom about my exam? How would the society react to it? But that should not be the ATTITUDE towards life. You make yourself weak when you show that you are scared of failure. Instead, you should face the situation giving your best and forgetting the rest.

We should always feel joyful for the amount of hard work we put in for reaching towards our goals. Why should we fear of failure and start losing hopes? Instead, unleash your fear, face all the hardships in the process and learn from them, don’t give up in the middle.

We start to ponder unnecessarily about the people’s reactions to our failure and eventually we become more tensed and depressed.  The stage fear or speaking at the public platforms was not my cup of tea till the age of 13. I could recollect an incident while in school, I was asked to present the “Thought of the day” in the morning assembly. I rehearsed innumerable times a night before hitting the bed and could not sleep well because of the fear of facing the audience. Next morning, when my name was called “Shruti Mehta”, I was trembling and I could barely recollect anything from what I had practiced. My teachers were pushing me hard welcoming on podium but I was numb standing in the nook and refused to be there. That was the most embarrassing day of my life and I feel stupid that it was me. And see today, I am dauntlessly standing and delivering speech in from of you all. I overcame my fear.

Phobia is natural and can be surmounted over easily. Forget about the world and deep dive into the things leaving it on God. When I tried Paragliding for the first time and the trainer was instructing me on how to handle the glide, I instead of listening to him carefully, was more delved into the thoughts of a crash when I was 8000ft above the sea level. Was it necessary? No, but it came to me naturally, as we love our lives more than anything and cannot risk it. Who knows what would happen the very next moment, but still people give it a try with the positive thought and attitude. The first step is always crucial for any start and the rest then becomes a cakewalk! With this, you have unleashed your fear and become invincible.

In the conclusion, one should always think that majority of things in our life are not eternal and are meant to be enjoyed as there is nothing to be missed. So unleash the fear, get the adrenaline rush, jump from the hill, deep dive into water, get a chance of failing in an exam, bunk your classes, come out of the fear of been thrown out of the company. Your life is more important, and too short to miss an opportunity, so enjoy every bit of it audaciously, dauntlessly and unleash your inner fear.

I would like to end with the words of Rabindra Nath Tagore:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.


-Shruti

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