Very often we think that as people we can grow only when we face challenging situations, adventures, and travels to distant lands. All these extreme experiences do give us an opportunity to grow but they are few and far in between. The challenge is to grow under normal conditions – the routine of everyday life. Day in and day out one has to do what is necessary, what the situations demand, however simple and so called boring the situations are. Here is where the challenge really lies because all our learning and growth has to be applied in these situations that we face on a day-to-day basis. Very often what is normal keeps changing.
Like these days, due to the Covid situation, social distancing, masking, home isolation are the norm. We are hoping that this will be normal only for some time. One never knows. I remember there was a time when we would walk into our flights with our bags without any security checks. But, once terrorism became a fact of our lives, security checks, restrictions where one is barred from even carrying a nail clipper. In the beginning it was strange. Now it is normal. I remember how much we protested when we had to make the shift.
However, in recognising that it was necessary it became the norm. Most pandemics last for a couple of years. Whatever is the new norm – work from home or back to office, hybrid version, the challenge is to grow in that normal situation by focusing on our duty – what has to be done. We do our duties without any hesitation or being slack about it. It is this attitude of putting our head down and doing what is necessary that really helps a person to grow.
One can learn to keep up one’s enthusiasm, drive and creative responses to situations irrespective of one’s moods or whether one finds it boring or tedious. It helps us become more responsible and dependable. This sounds simple but, in this profundity, lies the growth and progress of a society.
(The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him @aarshavidyaf@gmail.com)
