Sugar Words

“You are just one decision away from an entirely different life”

These words might be motivating to some, but they send chills to my spine.

Because what are the chances of getting the life you always wanted or did not want by making just that one decision. It is 50-50, which is to say you are operating on the edge.

But the trouble starts when you don’t know what kind of life you want, there is a rough sketch in your head but not a definite picture, no magnum opus. How do you make a decision then?

It already is like playing Jenga with your life, making sure that one block of decision does not bring you to square one. When that was not enough, a fan is switched on, right in front of your face. And the world does a flip, just casually playing in the background as if it does not change the whole context of your story.

In the face of so many things happening around you, the most perplexing and confrontational task to undertake is to change your plan, the one you announced two years back to the whole world. In between this dilemma, it can become painstakingly arduous to listen to your inner voice. But when you are in the middle of clamorous silence, that is when you need to listen to that voice the most.

Someone once told me to listen to the inner voice. And though I already knew that, it’s the right words at the right time that make the most impact.

So now instead, of changing the plan, I call it upgrading the dream. Because the problem with the word “plan” is that the minute you call it a plan, your overly imaginative side of the brain will start living in that future you think will be one hundred percent identical to the movie playing in your head. But when you call it a dream, it is 50-50 and, though it will hurt when your dream is not realized, you always knew that this was a possibility. Some would say that’s pessimistic, but I call it realistic.

Because look around, who knew this would happen two years back? Everyone around me was making blueprints of their future and, then boom forget going to college, one cannot even go to the nearby grocery store without fear running in their veins (No, this was not the kind of adrenaline rush we wished for)

Upgrading a dream might sound like letting go of a plan/dream. If not to you, then at least to the rest of the world, including your dear ones. Constantly urging you to doubt every step you take. To top that, we are continuously fed this idea of how we should keep striving, stick to the plan, not blame the circumstances, and so on.

But the real question is, are we updating our dreams with changing times?

Let us say, for a minute, we all make this assumption that time does not change, at least not so much, and that it remains the same for the period you plan to achieve a dream and finally accomplish it. But we would be lying to ourselves if we say that we are not changing?

Sometimes we are so afraid to come to terms with the fact that our dream needs to be updated that we keep treading the path of our old dreams. Putting in all the work and turning it into blind efforts. By which I mean not knowing whether you even want to reach your old destination.

And this is what takes away the flexibility of you wanting to become something more than what the old you planned or upgrading your potential or not wanting what you first wanted yet having no idea what you want right now.

The bug called inflexibility stems from the idea that if you agree that your dream needs to be updated, you will be conveying to the world that you were not true to your words. Or worse that just because you could not achieve something you tagged it updating your dream.

But the upside is that it is “your dream.” You are the owner. Therefore, it is only you who gets to decide when it needs to be updated.

So, it is okay to not stick to your blueprint.

Ask yourself do you need to update your dream?

Once you get the answer, wear noise-canceling headphones and believe yourself with every atom of yours!