Never judge a fish by its ability to climb…said a wise man called Albert Einstein.
One day I was talking to a friend of mine who was feeling low. On probing she confessed that she was feeling very inadequate. Inspite of her hard work she was unable to fulfill her boss’s as well as her own expectations at work.
As we talked more about it, we realized that she was taking her inadequacies personally. The limitations she was experiencing was just in terms of her skills that her job required, but she allowed herself to feel limited as a person! That was completely unnecessary!
We have all been blessed with many many qualities, skills and abilities. Some we use in isolation and some in combination.
Ashok was desperately looking for a job. He found an ad for a sales position. He applied for it and talked himself into the position.
He was an introvert who was gifted in creative writing. He dabbled with a bit of writing and even got little essays and stories published in small time magazines. But his father, a typical middle-class Indian man, prevailed upon him that he needed to get a real job if he had to earn his living and the sales job looked lucrative with all the incentive schemes.
A few months into his job Ashok started to feel frustrated as he found it extremely difficult to strike a rapport with prospective customers but total strangers. He could not bring himself to flatter or butter people just to get business like some of his colleagues or to relentlessly pursue them risking fear of rejection.
He started attributing the limitations of the job to himself as a person!
One day he got a letter informing him that one of his articles had been published in a fairly popular magazine.
That was enough to motivate him to consider writing as a possible career choice. Much against his conservative father’s wishes he applied for an opening as a copy writer in an ad agency.
Here the combination of his qualities of introversion, introspection and a way with words made him a successful copy writer and he soon found time to write and publish his first novell.
Neha was a positive, caring and emotional person. She was ruled by her heart. She met Ruchi at her new work place. Ruchi was intellectual, outspoken and confident. Neha admired her qualities and wished she could be more like her. Confident and self assured. They got close to each other. Ruchi often gave feedback to Neha about how she should do this or that in a very well meaning way but what Neha found out was that Ruchi was negative and pessimistic. She found something wrong with everyone and everything. The negativity started affecting Neha who was positive but less strong. She would feel emotionally drained out every time she was with Ruchi. She started feeling unsure about herself.
But one day she realized that Ruchi was a great person but their relationship was not. Individually they were both great but their personalities didn’t match. Neha since then consciously chose friends who valued her for who she was and helped her to become a better person with respect and unconditional love.
When one feels limited, it may be worth one’s while pondering about whether you are limited a person or is it that you are in a position- not just a job, but any situation- that is limiting your true potential. A case of the right person being in a wrong place.
There is nothing good or bad in this world. They say the head should be cool and the stomach should be warm. If the qualities exchange places, it results in illness. The right thing in the right place makes everything alright!! Doesn’t it?
Inner voice 