While we walk through the winters of life...we learn a couple of lessons. We never forget them, but these lessons settle in the dusty shelves of our minds when the good times come...
And then, Life knocks...to remind us that we are still in school and we should not forget what we have learnt. A recent incident in my Life reminded me of one such lesson that I had learnt a long time ago...
Right from our childhood, we all strive for something, constantly, throughout our life...and that is 'Belongingness'. Abraham Maslow has included this in his theory. It has been weaved into us. We always want to belong and we want someone or something to belong to us.
Sometimes when I look at life through a prism, it looks like we all 'live to belong'. Be it our family, friends, organization or social setups...we yearn to belong. The moment we land up in a new environment, we instinctively look out for groups of people among whom we may fit in. We do so many things just because we want to belong. We go all out to do things that we may not be in tune with, just so that we belong...
But the truth, as strange as it may seem, is that we DO NOT belong....we do not belong anywhere or to anyone. We are not inevitable. None of us is, no matter how important we think we are, we are not important enough to bring the world around us to a halt. Forget about the world, not even our friends and family would halt in our absence. There had been souls who created empires, which continues even in their absence.
Perhaps the only one to whom you belong is yourself. But the irony is that you do so less for your own self so that you could belong to some place or someone you can never belong to.
The only person who truly travels with you in your life is 'you' yourself. Belongingness is important, but remember....
There is no Game Over... The Game goes on....
hmmm. This blog explains a lot...well i agree with u, there was a phase in life where 'belonging' meant a lot to me. But today i realise that this world is constantly changing as is everything in it. So the minute u fit in some niche, it changes leaving u lost again. Today im happy in who im, for i know im unique n i dont fit in anywhere. But that makes me happy, weird i know but so true. I m content with who im n that makes a big difference...............
ReplyDeleteyeah true...self is the most important belonging...u forget urself and choose to live for others ,the only ques is will they remember u that u had lived for them?time to think ....
ReplyDeleteCome on Unni, I never expect to hear such a thought from the man, who is the brain behind the orators club. I will request u to do this small exercise for a moment. Close ur eyes and just bring in the faces of those whom u love the most in front of your eyes… and I am sure your parents would be first to come in. How can u say that u belong to no one or no one belongs to u? You are the living dream of your parents and so u have a big task ahead of u, of helping them realize their dream and proving them, their thoughts to be right. One way of loving oneself is by believing our dreams and moving ahead to achieve it. And I am sure that you are doing that. And let the other part of “inevitability” be handled by God ;)
ReplyDeleteI see a good human in you and you have a long way to go. Learning lessons from life is good but at times it is better to forget the lessons that you learn why because what we hold is just perception which may not be the truth.
Good luck… and keep writing :)
Sreedevi