Dearest Darling Friends,

 

 

Remember winning?

 

 

Remember getting an “A”? Did it feel good?

 

 

You bet it did. The first ever “A” made me feel ‘I am GOOD’. And then it became too easy to get the A’s.

 

 

Remember the feeling of being the topper in class. Everyone celebrated you. And then it became too easy to top the class.

 

 

Remember the first time you won the race on the tracks or you won the swimming competition. And you got many accolades.

 

 

And then it became too easy to get these medals in your school competitions.

 

 

While all these victories made us feel nice and good, very subtly, they lulled us into a curious form of complacency. Here an “A” was the new normal and anything below was considered unhealthy. Here being the topper was so normal. Here coming first in the race was so normal.

 

 

And when I did not TOP, something seemed to be irresponsible about it. It was as if I had not given my 100%. It was as if success had gone into my head. Our close ones felt so dejected with us. They became so serious at our ‘not at the top this time’ , as if we had lost someone dear in life.

 

 

Then the academic exams got over.

 

 

You completed exams thinking a whole beautiful world is waiting for you with open arms. After numerous interviews, you did not get a single placement call.

 

 

You were disturbed. You were silently and secretly devastated. You pretended to be strong. You pretended that you understand.

 

 

You pretended to be pretty chilled out as if you had it all figured out. You pretended as if better things await you hence these rejections are coming. Silently though, the heart was crying alone.

 

 

They had not prepared us in our schools and colleges on how to handle this stream of rejections. Neither did any one tell us that studying and exams are the easy part, finding a job is the difficult part.

 

 

After being a scholar who ALWAYS scored “A”s and topped the exams, “we don’t need you” from the corporates was very difficult to take.

 

 

You had hit ‘rock bottom’. And then, you read this statement… “Rock-Bottom is a Foundation, Not a Conclusion.”

 

 

This statement hit you hard. In a moment dark clouds seemed to clear away giving way to warm sunlight.

 

 

Your spirits that were sagging under heavy weight of rejection, seemed to have developed wings and was soaring…

 

 

Different folks at different times would have gone through similar situations and fought back valiantly and WON. If this was your life story, I would love to know what did you DO to get out of the ruts. Who knows, your life story might be the inspiration someone is waiting for.

 

 

Looking forward to reading your story.

 

 

With love, prayers and exceptional wishes,

 

 

naren

 

 

Imagine, when we wake up, we are given only what we had thanked for.