Making Peace With Our Shortfalls
Hey reader, how you doin?
I read a line in a book that is worth sharing.
‘Don’t hate me, son. There are people in this world who set out to make an omelette but end up with scrambled eggs. I am just one of them.
- The Illicit Happiness Of Other People
These lines are said by our lead protagonist Ousep who was a talented youngster but failed to live up to expectations.
With time he turned sour, started drinking, and ended up ruining his marriage, relationships, career, image a.k.a his life.
Apart from his professional failure, there were other key factors that contributed to his downfall.
But why am I telling you this?
I believe we all live with a feeling of underachievement (yes me too).
It may be career, relationships, health, or anything for that matter.
We all knew our true potential however rarely made the most of it.
Maybe the circumstances weren’t in our favor, or maybe we weren’t brave enough to call the shots, or we simply lacked the required skill sets.
And now time isn’t on our side.
We are inundated with a fair share of responsibilities.
There is a sense of guilt and shame because we bottled.
In an attempt to rectify the regrets we are either trying too hard (resulting in more losses than gains) or have deemed ourselves as a lost cause.
Ousep turned to alcohol to numb his pain.
Not the right choice but often we all befriend our demons.
I hope we fare better than Ousep.
Let’s start with acceptance.
Yes, we screwed up and may never reach our true potential.
But that’s history, and history can’t be rewritten(unless you have a secret time machine).
Step 1 done.
Now let’s take a deep breath.
Step 2, analyze your past to identify your negative patterns. Cut down the bad influences, anything that leaves you with a feeling of hollowness.
Step 3 is to start moving in the right direction.
Keep small goals. Start small but start.
Reading about teens building million-dollar companies or watching people becoming superstars by monetizing their hobbies further cements the feeling of being a loser.
We won’t make a crack in this world but we can try to make our old selves proud.
The old you who believed there’s no future worth fighting for. It’s worth a shot to prove him/her wrong.
Let's make some awesome scrambled eggs.
Well, that’s enough pep talk for a Sunday.