THIS DESIRE TO BE ON THE GREENER SIDE OF THE FENCE









The grass is, always, greener on the other side of the fence! Well, it, always, was… and, it, always, will be!

Employed people, often, tell me, that a self-employed person like me is far better off than them. “You have the freedom to do ‘whatever’ you like to… Nobody sits on your head… You can get on with life on your terms.”

I laugh. Rather, I feel sorry for those people, who think, that a self-employed person like me has the freedom to do ‘whatever’ I like to … Nobody sits on my head… and, above all, I can get on with life on my own terms.

“Come on here, to this side of the fence,” I often, tease them, “You will find out how free I am to do ‘whatever’ I like to, and how much I can get on with life on my own terms.”

Many young boys and girls, these days, live in a fool’s paradise. Someone has brainwashed them, saying, that, being employed under someone means losing your freedom, slogging like a slave and leading a life on someone else’s terms…

A wrong, flawed and a dangerous assumption that is!

“Unless your desire to be self-employed is tempered with tremendous amount of self-discipline, never, ever venture into it,” I advised someone, this morning. The young fellow is under the assumption, that it’s all romantic out here…

You need to be driven by the right reason… Money is not the only reason. You can make pots of money by being employed in an organization as well as by being self-employed. It’s true the other way around, too: You can go broke by being on either side of the divide. What makes you click, on either side, is the kind of self-discipline you possess.

When you are self-employed, you need to be even more accountable and answerable… You need to be humble enough to swallow your pride, take dictates, change your views and attitude… And, above all, you need to drop that misplaced notion, that you can get away in life on your own terms…

Even the members of the Royal Family can’t do that…

In Life, there will, always, be people above us and below us… There is, always, accountability, answerability and dependability. These qualities can only be ‘earned’ the hard way, in a very disciplined way… Sorry Sir, they can’t be inherited. As I  said, not even by the Royalty!

Creative freedom does not mean you can have your way everywhere… It’s not an island we live on… and, our creative stuff is worth whatever it is only when we are able to convincingly sell to those who are willing to buy it. So, I tell the young boys and the girls out there, who come to me for advice: “Learn to stay hungry and stay foolish”… Literally and metaphorically, both!

Else, forget about the greener grass on the other side of the fence. The grass on your own side can be even greener!


I have already turned sixty, what they call a ‘retirement’ age. But, let me tell you this:  I love to do whatever I have been doing till I breathe my last breath. That means, I am a happy man on this side of the fence – the Self-employment side…. Am I not?

Yes, I am very, very happy. I have no regrets at all… never about my decisions… never for not making pots of money… never for not being in the league of those rich, famous and powerful people in this world… No regrets at all for having to start my work at 8 in the morning, get up at 5 and do some physical exercises, read, write, listen to music etc… No regrets for not having travelled across the world… No regrets for being shy and simple even after doing self-help work for years…

Never, ever!

A choice cannot be made to look pale if it is a conscious choice… It shines and walks with its head held high!

So, I tell young boys and girls, that they must make their conscious choices and, then, be prepared to face its consequences. Happiness, mercifully, doesn’t come sealed in those ‘pots’ of money… Nor in those silly fantasies the young ones, often, hold: that, they should be free to do ‘whatever’ they like to… without being dictated by anyone, and they should be able to live a life on their own terms…

I tell them, “Wake up kids”…

In his Commencement speech before the young college kids at the Stanford University, Steve Jobs said the same thing… It was in 2005, thirteen years ago! Steve Jobs is no more… But, he has left behind his timeless message for every young boy and a girl who eternally desires in Life, to be on the greener side of the fence…




Wishing every young boy and girl the same again…

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Kamal Kishore Rikhari

Video: YouTube/Stanford University/English Speeches



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