There is this one quote that I have grown up with. And this quote has stayed with me till date. From being a sequence of words, this has become a life philosophy for me gradually. The quote is in Hindi,
हम बदलेंगे युग बदलेगा
The quote can be translated to, “When I change, the world will also change”.
When I first heard this in childhood, it was more of a revolutionary quote, asking people to start the change from them. In childhood it remained more of a rhyme which I enjoyed saying. However, this has stayed in the psyche deeper.
Over the years, just like the quote I have developed a philosophy to focus on self-improvement. Whether it is a decision to be made or an action to be taken, focus should be on my contribution to it.
This has helped me to stay away from playing victim card and blaming situations for the life I have. Rather than making the decision based on people around, I have chosen consciously to take the call that aligns to my core self. At times we make a choice and in case of failure blame others for being the reason of that wrong choice. This behavior prevents us from being responsible. It can create a habit of blaming others and being responsibility aversive.
With the above quote as a guiding light, I try to focus on improvements in myself. It requires conscious introspection and sincere effort to see the faults we have. In a world where being perfect is the goal, we all have the greed to be one. And mostly we choose the shortcut for reaching this goal. We choose the game of faking the perfectionism. With this trap we turn blind to our core self.
As an alternate if we choose to improve rather than prove, we need not shy away from our shortcomings. We can be comfortable in our current self with a dedication to improve whatever is lacking today.
In childhood we teach kids about inferiority complex. We reprimand the kids who feel shy about any of their attributes like speaking skill or any physical characteristics. At times, while trying to infuse confidence in kids, the indirect lesson they learn is of hiding or ignoring the shortcoming. Along with making kids more self-confident, they should also be taught the importance of working on self. That can groom the habit of introspection in them.
This philosophy has also helped in becoming an action oriented person. It is easier for me to be proactive and take up the task when needed. Rather than waiting for someone else to do it, I am more aligned to what I can contribute.
The world may need revolutions to change or may have bigger problems to face. But I am happy to do my bit in best way. And I do it for myself and not as an obligation.
