At The End Of The Tunnel Is Light
Why keep going even when self-confidence is hit hard?
Life is lived in mysterious ways. As we get exposed to the many facets of life, we tend to be overwhelmed by them and by the power of circumstances. The question — “why do we get overwhelmed?” can be answered in two ways. We can hold social conditioning responsible for it and we can hold ourselves responsible for it.
Growing up, we are taught about what classifies as social and what asocial. We are taught about the importance and glory of success while, even today, we look down to failures. Diligent and consistent efforts should be the hallmark of the integrity and capability of an individual rather than “perceived” success.
But, we do not live in an ideal world, and sometimes, even though we work hard and put in consistent efforts, it is not enough. Failures, one must remember, are inevitable and abundant. Of course, if we live so cautiously that we take no risks and manage to make no mistakes at all, at twilight we can only ask ourselves — did we actually live?
Failure or a high probability of it shouldn’t demean efforts. There is always something that we can learn, improve, and hit back with. Failures are great teachers and probably the greatest of strategists that ever existed but, in silence. Whatever journey one embarks upon in life, failures (one’s own and of others) act as guides. One only needs to have the courage to see them, learn from them, and try not to repeat them.
Consistent efforts which spring from continuous learning and amelioration (updating strategies in time) are the only key to unlock the strongest of doors and to find success (or oneself). Of course, there are times of frustration that hit our self-confidence. Retrospection to understand the mistakes made and introspection to adapt quickly is the only rational way to come out of such abysses.
We are humans after all and our mind is not always supposed to be rational. It can also be illogical, emotional, and down-right destructive. But, we should understand that sometimes the destruction of the old ways is necessary to build a new foundation based on new philosophies and better strategies.
If we were not endowed with the mental capability of self-criticism and self-doubt, it is hard to imagine why and how we would have ever tried to improve, improvise, and be better. As it turns out, self-doubt can also be an asset.
At times, we can hardly see any light in front of us and those are the times that we need to reinforce belief in our abilities and our journey. Because, as they say, you will always find light when the tunnel ends. Difficult circumstances are just that. Tunnels. They block our access to light (right thinking). But, we, with belief, must keep going because when a tunnel ends, the touch of light is magnificent.
Difficulties can make us think low of ourselves, sometimes. Although we must know our strengths and believe in them but even if we are hit hard and lose faith, we should remember this — consistent and restless efforts of the mediocre always trump the half-hearted efforts of the extraordinary. What matters is we keep up the efforts in the right direction.
Remember, in the journey to self-realization, there are bound to be circumstances when we feel stuck — in loops (ideation/epiphany -> efforts and hard work -> failure -> self-criticism -> learning and improving -> efforts and hard work) — and we need to break these loops (cycles of improvement), come out and find ourselves again and again. Every failure gives us an opportunity to introspect, improve, and break a loop.
And when we have broken enough loops, we can hope to really know ourselves. Our time on this planet is limited. We certainly do not want to get stuck with failures, forget to live and at the same time, we also do not want to give up and remain stationed at self-derogation and stop progressing. Instead of delving into self-criticism for long, we must use it to improve and to strategize. Have faith, rest if you have to but then get up and keep going.
