Recently, I found myself in a situation that bothered me for a long time. I had placed my hope in a certain one day. I had pictured it, the very moment, and had been getting through each day with just one thought, that I am one day closer to living it.
Then a series of events happened , and the hope of getting to that one day was no longer there. Along with it, the hope to get through every day.
So, to get past this,I tried to simplify the situation, in my head.
I saw myself as a kid, and this kid has been looking forward to a picnic. So excited, so eager that she didn't want anything to go wrong before that. She studied harder than usual, she did homework on time. She had even prepared a list of things she would do, what she would wear, what she would need. She felt cheerful everyday as she ticked off each day with the hope that she is one day closer to the day of the picnic.
Then one day, the picnic was cancelled. It was no longer going to happen. The kid was sad and angry. She wanted to go so badly that when she couldn't, she lost focus in her lessons, didn't do her homework. It was like the kid did everything in anticipation for that one day, but that is not happening anymore. It won't happen anywhere in the future. It's gone.
I asked The Perfect Irony, what would he ask the little kid to do? And there came the reply:
Firstly, the kid needs to understand that the picnic and homework or school work is unrelated, one doesn't follow the other. The kid needs to be taught that everything happens in the right time, that it's okay she has lost her chance to go to the picnic, tomorrow something better will happen. If something went wrong today, tomorrow something will be more right than ever.
This tomorrow hasn't taken shape yet, the kid could win the spelling bee, or even get a scholarship for her drawings. Something more wonderful can happen than the picnic itself. So even if the picnic was cancelled, that's not the end of it, even though it feels like it.
Sure the picnic was important. And yes, the kid is sad. Some parents will probably tell the kid that it's alright if the school cancelled the picnic, but don't you worry, we will take you there. Maybe we will even invite your friends. This is nice, the kid will surely be happy. But this will also tell the kid that she will get what she wants, one way or the other.
And in life, the kid will NOT always get what she WANTS, she will get what she NEEDS. The kid will need to understand that she won't always have it her way, and things won't always go as planned. But at times, the same kid needs random reward out of nowhere, to make her realise that life can be generous for no reason too. Both lessons are equally important for a kid to understand what a roller coaster life really is.
As a kid, I read a lot of moral stories, but never truly understood it truly. Moral stories are an important part of our life, and they need to be imparted practically, not just textually.
I replaced the kid with myself again, and although I don't have a solid replacement for that hope today, but I need to place my trust in something that doesn't exist now, but will be there when the time comes. Until then, I need to get through each day that falls in between today and that time.
Also, we need that child inside us, as there are certain things we don't understand as adults, but are way easier to understand when we explain the same thing to ourselves like we would explain it to a kid.