LEAP... THE NET WILL APPEAR

 

“The only real prison is fear;

and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.”

Aung San Suu Kyi

                                             

Yesterday was the last day for my twelfth-standard batch (HSC). Even though my students get my daily dose of pepping – call it inspiration or pravachan – during every session, every day, all through their academic year, on the last day, when they go away from me, I have something spontaneous and special to tell them, always… Yes, that is when I truly feel the power and the privilege of being a good teacher: How much, willingly or unwillingly, my students realize they have received from me… And, how much I have received from my students!

For some students, it may have been months and months of daily dosage… and, for others, it may be a single dosage… It’s just a little spark that sets a massive forest on fire, we know that… Yes, we have just seen that in California and Los Angeles…

May the ‘fire’ do good… build, empower, bless…

A young girl, stayed after everyone had left. She was the shyest of all, spoke very rarely; yet, she would come about as very earnest. She wanted to share with me what had made her feel ‘on top of the world’ a few days ago. She said, “Sir, I was asked to anchor the farewell show in my school… Can you believe, I did it?”

“Oh, yes, I can believe, you did it, dear,” I replied without any hesitation or deceit.

The girl added, “I hadn’t faced a group in my life; but, my teacher encouraged me, saying, ‘You have nothing to lose, but everything to gain’.”

“Exactly… Your teacher was right,” I said, “The only way to beat your fears is by facing them, over and over and over again… You have to take that leap of faith, and the nets will appear for you.”

For a 17-year-old student, standing before a group of her schoolmates and handling a few announcements – call it anchoring, compering, hosting or whatever – yes, standing there, mustering up some courage, and say those lines – yes, yes, yes – that’s being courageous… ‘Doing the seemingly impossible things despite fear, with a quaking heart’, as the famous quote says.

Public Speaking was my biggest fear, too,  when I was that girl’s age… I was terrified of stage. Yet, that very fear turned out to be the biggest blessing in my life… Everything I did ever since, and am still doing – have come out of that burning drive to cross ‘my Red Sea and reach my Promised Land’!

Now imagine, for so many out there, Public Speaking may not be a ‘Red Sea’ at all… but, something else may be. I bet, everyone out there, who walks on two feet like you and me, is afraid to do something in his/her life…

It’s, also, such a relatable sight to see: That, all of us work hard to reach a comfortable place in life, and we call ourselves ‘successful’. But, once there, we, invariably, experience that familiar hunger ‘to do something more’ – a few unfulfilled things which we have been holding very close to our bosoms, for very a very long time. But, now, all over again, we can experience the same-old fear of the unknown – the fear of leaving our comfort zone –  popping up to turn our feet cold…

I am convinced, this phenomenon is universal: When we land up in our comfort zones, we realize, that we  have many dreams still left unfulfilled. While we hear one side of our hearts prompting us -  “Go for it”, but, the other side cautioning us: -  “What if you fail?”

I am yet to come across ‘a fully-content soul’ around me. Well, let me leave greed and lust away. I am talking about the reasonable and doable things which many of us still cherish in our hearts, but are scared to go for them… yes, just because of fear of failure…

So, last evening, the young girl was telling me the same thing - what her school teacher and I were telling her: “Honey, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain… Take the leap, and the net will appear.”

O, that divine discontentment!!!!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Pixabay

Videoes: The X Factor UK