It’s okay…

It is not. It can never be.

Yet, all of us have used this dreaded expression at some point of time in our lives. In fact, we would continue to use it into the foreseeable future. For, our very lingua franca is built with clichés like these to help us live unhurt in this world.

Such statements, we believe, would take us a long way in our lives. Well, Almost. That is to say, Never!

For starters, we use this particular one in two ‘similar but different’ situations –

1. To comfort a person who had failed to accomplish whatever it is he had set out to achieve, DESPITE giving his best.

2. To comfort a person who had failed to accomplish whatever it is he had set out to achieve, BECAUSE of not giving his best.

But little do we realize that, regardless of the undertone of this statement, it could cause irreparable damage to our pattern of thinking. For, the propensity for mediocrity is so hardwired into our system that even a little comfort can go a long way in ‘numbing’ our brain toward acting upon ideas that cause it discomfort.

Consider this scenario.

Snooze. One of the frequently pressed buttons in our lives. Again, ssomething that was not available to our fathers and grandfathers. A luxury for us.

Or, was it?

Did you ever realize that the pre-mobile alarm clocks — by which I mean the alarm clocks that were in use before the advent of mobile phones, and hence digital alarm service — never had snooze button, not even the concept of it?

There was just a button you used to stop the alarm, and which, you had to reset to use it the next day. And so, every time your press it in these alarms and go back to sleep, you are DECIDING to sleep, and thus face the consequences of such decision.

But after mobile alarms came into usage, we were suddenly provided with an opportunity to transfer this crucial decision onto the alarm itself — the snooze button. Because, by the simple act of pressing it, we are POSTPONING the decision to sleep-with-the-consequences-of-going-under-the-duvet!

Snooze allows you to delay the inevitable. Thus was born the first collective unconscious acknowledgement of accepting our failure to take charge of our lives. Such is the propensity for mediocrity in our lives.

It’s okay…the snooze button says every time you press it. It is not.