Skip to main content

Growing Up


Growing up has never been an easy job and would require constant personal reflection on your part as to how you want to grow up. People younger than you will not make sense to you and ones who are older will want you to “grow up”. Still there is a certain magic about growing up. 

You must always remember that you are not the only one who is passing through this age. There have been numerous people before you and millions who will follow you. There is a difference between turning a particular age and being that age. After birth the only way to live is to grow up. Everyone has their own journey and experiences. No two growing up experiences or outcomes have been the same ever. The best thing about growing up is that you get to script your own future in the way that you want it to be.  You are what you choose to be. With growing up comes responsibilities’ and I am sure you must be feeling the same. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I think of what the future holds for me and I am responsible for what I do with my life as that affects others as well.

In good times, things are favorable (no matter what you do) because whatever you do, things will turn out to be agreeable and just fine. However it is the unforeseen and capricious times that require special attention and preparation. Here I am reminded of a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, one that seems appropriate during times that lie ahead of your growing up years: “what lies behind you and what lies in front of you are tiny matters in comparison to what lies inside you”. The power to change does not lie with someone else. It is within you. Your will to do better and impressive things with your life requires effort from you. Jack Welch (ex Global CEO of GE) had written a book “Change your destiny or someone else will”. Napoleon Bonaparte did not have line of fate. He made one on his palm. There are innumerable examples of how very ordinary people have done extra-ordinary things. The key to success is consistent, smart and hard-work. 

There are no free lunches in this world. Nothing happens by chance. Everything about you has a plan and a purpose. Nothing comes out of nothing. Something comes out of everything. As far as I have understood growing up, I know deep inside each one of you will grow up to be a very responsible woman/man one day. You have the capability and you have to work at exploiting it to your advantage. Remember we live only once. Time and tide wait for none. So seize this moment, for now is what you have. 

Build a life for yourself where you have garnered enough strength to do the things that you want to do and most importantly make difference to others. If you have power then your word can be heard by many and your thoughts and actions can be put to better use. 

I don't know of any other life. Do you?

Ma



Comments

  1. it was very nice....this changes my views on what growing up is about :)
    - Aayu

    ReplyDelete
  2. Growing up is an eternal and never-ending process. One who is socially accepted as a "grown up", in fact has just embarked on the journey. I think it is more mental than physical.
    The more you explore your inner self, the closer you get to being a real "grown up".

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Day

It’s a new day but how is it different from what it was yesterday or tomorrow? May be not. It’s only change in date and nothing else. But I am amazed at the power of any new day. It’s the same day…same 24 hours….same morning and night…yet for every person the value it holds is so different. The same day means achievement for some; despair for others; new beginning for some and ending of an era for some. …it is happiness and togetherness for many and separation and hurt for others. The beauty of each day however is the hope that it brings. It turns the tides for all of us. It gives all of us the power to make it different from what it was yesterday. But I wonder how many of us realize this power to change within themselves. This supremacy that has been bestowed on us by nature to shape our today is something that needs to be realized by us. There are so many living things on this earth but we humans are the only ones who can exercise this power. I was reading in an article yesterday

I have a dream....

I often wonder would Wordsworth have written a “Daffodils” or Frost a “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” or Tagore his numerous works if they were living in our times. Armed with gadgets, latest apps and technology would they have felt bored enough to actually step out to experience what they did and more so over physically written it down? I have my doubts, serious ones.  Where is the time to be just aimless and still? We are so busy filling up that unforgiving one minute with myriad activities that we most of the times forget living? Perhaps until and unless dreaming shows some extraordinary gains to make it into our daily ‘to do’ list we would never have time for that. It needs to be added as a subject in the school curriculum for parents to wake up to its importance. The stillness of a cat; flowing of the river; random growing of the wild flowers along the road less taken; sudden showers in midst of nowhere; a smile from a total stranger walking on the road etc. are

Invictus

If you want to enjoy what you have, never look at people above you, look at people below. If you want to count your blessings look at the under-privileged and not the privileged. If you want to succeed look at your own failures to learn from them and not at successes achieved by others. If you want to be loved never look for people who could love you, look for people whom you can love. If you want to be happy never look at what you don't have, cherish what you have. If you want to spread peace and joy, just go ahead and do it. You will be at peace and full of joy. Invictus " is a short Victorian Poem by the English  poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). At the age of 12, Henley fell victim to tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. It was amputated when he was 17. Stoicism inspired him to write this poem. Despite his disabilit