When did changes become a nightmare?
The sky was overcast and it was drizzling lightly on the rooftops. I was upset as it had foiled my plans of going out. I cuddled up on the sofa with a hot cup of tea and a copy of “Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban”. The book was old and battered, owing to the number of times I had read it. Yet, every time reading it felt like visiting happy place. Just as Harry casted his first patronus, the torrential rain and the petrichor distracted me. I set the book aside and walked up to the balcony. It was a pleasant weather and I stood there watching the rain. The rain lashed down, forming puddles of muddy water on the floor. Childhood memories flashed before me. Jumping on puddles, splashing water around and making paper boats were the best parts of a rainy day. I began reminiscing the olden days.
As a child, our joys were instantaneous. They did not require anything extraordinary. We found happiness in rains and holidays. Changes did not bother us. When it was summer, we enjoyed the holidays playing out on streets. As the rainy season came, paper boats and watching TV with hot snacks excited us. Similarly changing school years never bothered us. We awaited the switch from pencil to pen. We eagerly looked forward to becoming someone like the senior students. When we were young, changes were exciting. We never feared them. As a matter of fact, we awaited them restlessly. I wondered, “when did changes become a nightmare for us”.
The rains had stopped. Yet, I stood there staring at the sky, watching the clouds passing away rapidly. I looked back at the various changes at every stage of my life. They had come at a steady pace. But, just like the passing clouds gathering at some point and pouring down as rain, the various changes culminated in making me the person I am today. Though, this realisation hit me hard, I could not fathom why the mind made it so hard to accept them. The excitement we had in childhood had been replaced with fear. Right from facing life deciding exams, moving out of school to college, as we grew up changes had pushed us to work harder, move out of comfort zone. It meant pursuing the uncertainty. We become afraid of not being accepted. We fear the possibility of failure. When we are accustomed to a routine, it becomes hard for us to leave them. However, difficult a known path may become, we consider it to be better on comparison with an unknown route. As a means of comfort against change, we tend to stick on to the past. Thus, hindering our progress.
“Life is change, growth is optional”.
Learning to accept the changes is a herculean task, and we need to start in baby steps. We cannot go back and live in the past, just because we are not comfortable with the new present. It works just like the quote from Alice in Wonderland,
“I can’t go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
Changes may cloud our vision like the fog on a winter morning. But, we need to remember even the dense fog gets cleared with the rays of rising sun. We must commit to embrace change and never complain, let go of the past and live in the present awaiting a new future. Just like a child, if we learn to find joy in anything, changes will once again become exciting.
The sky was clear and so was I. With a rejuvenated mind, I went back to Harry finding out his godfather.
Bliss!
