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| Source: Indiblogger |
Charles Chaplin once said you’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down. Life, let’s face it, is one tough ride. Hence, looking up can, at times, be beyond comprehension; rendering gazing down the more viable option. But perhaps the best way of steering through life’s curve balls is to focus in the direction with more probability of finding that pot of gold. Agree?
I’ll be lying if I say that I’m someone who always looks at the positives of a situation. Thus to say I’m eternally an optimist would be an exaggeration beyond compare. I am, after all, only human. But I do consciously make an effort to look at the bright side of things. It’s not easy, mind you. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not doable. Sometimes when you are down and out, the silver lining seems more like fate’s mocking smile, ridiculing your every move. Thus, skepticism seeps in. But somewhere deep down you know, in fact you believe too, that all things do happen for a reason and a good one at that.
There was a time in my life when I found myself grasping at straws to stay afloat. Needless to say it was a significant turn in my life. A crucial one, well at least it was supposed to be. I was in college and placements were around the corner. Here I was waiting for my first job interview while fate had something else planned altogether. One night, just a few days before the first round of placements, I was thrown into the hospital with severe burns on my thighs. Lying there on the operating table, with the doctors working on my blisters and what not, I felt completely lost. Actually, more angry than lost. If truth be told, I had almost resigned to fate staring at the blinding yellow light hanging over the operating table. So much light yet everything seemed to be shrouded in darkness. And this dejection lasted not for a few hours but a couple of days. It was a while before the haze actually began clearing out. Or, you can say, before I began comprehending the bigger picture.
And one day out of the blue, as if touched by the fairy’s magic wand, everything started making sense. Doubts cleared magically and I realized how short-sighted I had been all along. Otherwise, wasn’t it obvious how lucky I had been to have only suffered burns in my thighs? How lucky I had been to have had the sense to roll on the floor to douse the fire! How lucky I had been that my hostel mates threw buckets and buckets of water on me! How lucky I had been that through this accident I found S, of course that’s a story for another day.
When I looked beyond my injuries and pain at that point in life, I realized I had so much to be grateful for. It filled me with hope for the future and made me believe that, come what may, I’ll emerge stronger. It was in a way the first major crisis in my adult life, my first battle with destiny. I couldn’t control what happened but I understood, and quite well too, that it was upto me how I navigated through it. Even today I draw strength from that experience because I know if I could come out of that, I could come out of any situation in life. That was a moment in life, an experience, which told me I would be fine in the face of obstacles, even if unprepared.
So I want to tell you that everything does have a greater purpose, well more or else everything. My accident did. It showed me who my friends were. It brought out in the open the cracks in some of my, now long lost, relationships and it left me one of the greatest gifts of life. Sanguinity especially in times of crisis, however difficult the situation might be, is a gift. It helps you fight better. It peels the layers to help you stare at the possibilities, otherwise imperceptible. It fills you with hope even at the most improbable of moments and that’s the beauty of it.
‘Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses’ – Alphonse Karr
I believe it is your outlooks that decides, in many ways, where and how you end up in life. Yes, providence has a hand and it plays that hand quite sternly as well. But how you react to that, well, depends solely upon you. I don’t say it’s easy, nothing really is. But it is surely the only way that ensures you never lose hope, after all, nothing really is impossible even when you are in the middle of the worst crisis ever.
Looking up, searching the positives and always seeking the silver lining, thus, should be a way of life. So dream, hope and don’t worry about setbacks.
very positive as well as thought provoking post…. thanks for it
Being optimistic is great. Need to appreciate the thorns and the roses too…
Lucid and convincing narrative!
Although its difficult for someone like me but like you said its not impossible
Thanks Lata 🙂
Absolutely Anita 🙂
Hey yep. We have the same blogger template 😀 Same pinch 😉
Coming to the post, I am glad all the good things happened during that crisis that saved any serious damage! And I would definitely love to read the story about how you found S 😉 You will write it wont you?
Thanks 🙂
Worth an effort I feel 🙂
Oh yes I will Swathi 🙂
Loved reading this post, Naba! Everything serves its purpose, even though at the time we may be totally clueless of what the purpose could be. Always, always, look up and look out for those rainbows 🙂 Cheers!
There should also be hope against any hope, which would make sure one overcomes the toughest of circumstances.
Lovly heart warming post. Indeed it's difficult to see the good during the low times of life; but everythig does happen for a reason