I remember, in my childhood, my father and elder sister always urged me to be on top of my academic activities. They explained- I should not feel satisfied mere being first-boy in the class, rather, I had to up my level so high that no body could even imagine to get near me. Luckily, I was lazy and carefree enough to give heed to their pep talk in those days; so, I didn’t lose peace of my mind. I didn’t consider my classmates as enemy from the other side of the border so that I had to be alert and ready with arms and ammunition to defeat them. I knew, rather we all the little wise Buddhas knew, every home had same story! Parents feel their child is a special one or has to be a special one; so, he or she must be ahead of others. They are always worried for their offsprings, because, according to them, this world is a race and you have to win this somehow; there is no other way around. The world is a place of cut-throat competition! You are successful, only if you are ahead of others. If we are parents, we feel it so right. But, if we are children, then we may think anything!
Keeping aside the age-old parents-children war, we find here a fundamental question– what is the idea of success? Does success mean being ahead of others? If, I were Usain Bolt, then answer is definitely yes. But, in the race of life, we compete with who? Often we say –look at that person, he is a successful businessman, he has such a successful career, and so on. By saying that, perhaps, we want to set the bench mark of success. We would easily say- Mr. Bill Gates or Mr. Mukesh Ambani are successful in their lives. But, we can’t say the same thing convincingly about Mr. Ramlal Chaiwala, the small tea-shop owner of my local town. Although, he seems to be quite happy in his life. We often ask our children- who is your role model? It means we want to set a target for them; if you be like this person, or can achieve like that person, you are going to be successful in your life! We may say–be a Bill Gates, an Einstein, a billionaire, a famous person, but, don’t be a Ramlal Chaiwala, although many people savor the cup of tea made by him. In the pursuit of your success, if you lose all the colors of your life, it doesn’t matter!
So, our idea of success is very relative. We constantly compare ourselves with somebody else who seems to be more privileged in someway. In doing so, we tend to ignore some very basic facts of our lives. We forget that we all have different capabilities and different challenges in life; so, rather than trying to fit into others’ shoes, we need to carve out our own path. If we can blossom to our full potential that is embedded in us by the nature, it is the actual success for us. If I am a roadside tiny bud of a wild flower, I will bloom to be an enchanting wild flower; I will never try to be a rose to adorn someone’s home.