THAT QUIET SPACE WITHIN





“Your career is what you’re paid for;

your calling is what you’re made for.”

Steve Harvey



I just asked one of my eleventh-standard student: “So, what is the plan after twelfth?"

“I don’t know, Sir,” the girl said quite sincerely.

The last thing I wanted to do was to make this bright girl feel guilty about it.

I was clueless about what I wanted to do in my own life till I landed up in first-year B.Com. I knew how I had gone about my own career choice. So, I said to this girl, “It’s okay if you do not know what you should do after twelfth. But, you should know what you should do now about it.”

I pointed to the difference between my situation at her age and hers… I grew up in a village, where my parents were not educated. There was ignorance and lack of means… My self-confidence was extremely low and social skills were poor. I was not into reading; nor I was aware of any motivational programmes. Everything began to change during my B.Com days, when I dreamt of becoming a fine teacher and a writer like my own teacher, Prof. B.S. Raman. After that, everything revolved around that single dream.

I told the young girl how I spent time alone constantly – and quietly – getting in touch with myself… I could literally touch my dream; alongside, I could, also, sense the fears and self-doubts within me. This constant conflict inside us – between our faith and fears, between our dreams and self-doubts – is described as ‘The battle of two foxes’. Invariably, the fox that wins is the fox who we feed the most.

I told the young girl about this phenomenon. “The moment you start dreaming, you start hearing these negative voices within. The only way to defeat these negative voices is to feed more to your faith, your dream.”

The young girl is hailing from a very fine family. Parents are educated and quite well-off. She has completed her schooling from one of the reputed schools. She is intelligent and grounded. Now, she has joined one of the best Commerce colleges in the city. She is respectful, committed and expressive. Yes, everything, by God’s grace, is in its place.






“All that is needed is more quiet time to yourself,” I reminded the girl, “Dreams are born and nurtured in that quiet space within. You are old enough to understand and do that. Get in touch with yourself. You’ll be able to answer, with clarity, when someone asks you: “So, what is the plan after twelfth?”

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: pixabay

 

Video: Mark Knopfler/Andreea Petcu

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