Live Exceptionally, Not as an Exception

‘It is probable that it will occur but I am not entirely sure. I just hope it works out one way or another’. How many of us are in this state of mind? If I were to speak about myself, I’d say that I might have been there too. So what state of mind am I exactly referring to? Let’s ponder as you read through.

Imagine you are meaning for something good to happen to you, it can be anything – probably a promotion, a raise, a vacation, an award of recognition, a new relationship, an acceptance letter from your dream college or even a new motorcycle that’s been on your shopping list since a long while. Literally ANYTHING.

There is a psychic process one undergoes when they want to accomplish something. Few speak about it, few conceal it but all of us experience it. Let’s just say that for the rest of the blopost, we refer to it as a ‘Self-driven gratification process’. Before we delve into the burst of emotions we feel as humans before and on this ride, let us talk about a plethora of mind-frames we consciously concoct and reap the results of.

The default mindset that has clouded everyone nowadays is one where we procrastinate about something till the very end, until it is too late to act and all we can do is hope that things will work in our favor. If this happens once or twice, we can bracket it as luck but if one gets influenced by things just working out in the end, irrespective of how hopeless the current situation is, then their state is similar to someone who is living on borrowed time.

We can refute it all we want but deep down I am sure that each one of us would have slipped into a highly enticing loop of events where we just do something for the sake of it then trust our stars to do the rest for us. What is important to understand is that belief is good but blind faith that restricts our ability to work something out for ourselves with the simplest of efforts, will rust us from within. Its poignant to reflect on a thought that just struck me, ‘life without substance makes sustenance difficult.

When making it happen is in your hands, hoping for it to happen is a fool’s errand.

All I am trying to convey is that do not embark on a journey if you do not want to reach the destination or cannot muster the courage to row undeterred in the face of a storm. I have said this before, I will say it again. Half-hearted efforts decimate the authenticity of the endeavour which you would have decided to pursue in the first place.

When we know that a feat can be achieved through meager efforts we can pool in from our side, why do we decolor our ambition by hoping that we will just tweak things here and there and be happy with the bare minimum? It’s not any single individual’s fault. Everyone is influenced by how things just pan out in the end for someone who doesn’t put their heart and soul into what they pursue. They somehow just wing it. They just do it. Somehow. By hook or crook. By relying on forces beyond their control. By faking it.

It is normal to think that this is unfair but it is unadvised to think that you could walk on the same path and attain the same fruition. No. Please do not do that. Quick success is fatal. Hurried success is fatal. Unearned success is fatal. People do not realize what they are missing out on when they rush through things without trying to work it out. Lets go over a few handpicked pleasures from a non-exhaustive list –

1. Those who rely, deny themselves the feeling of wholesomeness.

2. Those who live on a foundation made of chance, do not experience the ecstasy that flows through every single vein of your body when you go all out to earn what is rightfully yours.

3. Those who pursue something just for the sake of it, never will know the joy of completion, the feeling of fulfillment and the pure gratification you that gushes through you when your ambition synchronizes with reality.

   
   

Not to mention the truckload of learning we forego when we skip the essential stages and hop off to the last one, hoping we will make a safe landing. Everyone should honestly introspect and change their mindset towards this idea because when you start something, if you are hoping that it ends soon then you have started on a wrong footing. Get off. Take some time to reflect on the kind of person you want to be – someone who joyously scripts their own story or hands over the reigns to a third force, hoping that their story has a beautiful ending while constantly being engulfed by fear, uncertainty and false hope.

Do not derail your hard-working persona just because you are under the delusion that your efforts are going unnoticed. No, that never happens. Efforts compound. They matter. They will yield something beyond the ordinary. They will yield self-esteem and the confidence that YOU DO YOU.

Working engages the mind. Waiting erodes it.

Strive for that promotion, do something for which you deserve a raise, stand out from the crowd to bag that award of recognition, put efforts to establish healthy bonds, go all out to prove your worth to your dream college. Allow yourself to experience the joy of fulfillment, to do something extraordinary on your own and to reaffirm yourself that you are a person of purpose. Do not let the wave of mediocrity and helplessness sweep you away so far that you cannot get up back from it.

Instead of waiting to get past things as an exception, go the extra mile and live exceptionally well, doing exceptional deeds. Live life to your fullest.