This year I got a chance to meet people of multiple classes, creeds, colors, mindsets, and positions. We have had a chance to reflect on our life. We found out that, as a generation, all of us are struggling hard to reach a certain position before reaching the age of thirty otherwise we’d be considered a failure. Now that every other person among the generation of thirty is settling down these kinds of thoughts are justified. According to the Labor Force Survey (LFS) 2020-21, the overall employment-to-population ratio is 42.1 percent and this ratio is higher in males (64.1 percent) as compared to females (19.4 percent). Besides that have you ever thought other than fortune what exactly is not letting us reach the desired position? I will tell you….
First and foremost is the ego issues. Youngblood tends to think that they are very well-informed and none can compete with them. As per their mindset, their understood “truth” is right and others’ is trash. Honest advice, suggestions, and criticism aren’t taken constructively. To win the race of arguments one can stoop so low that they cannot be found in the core of the earth. Allow me to break your bubble; truth and knowledge are subjective. Every individual is trained according to their culture, class, creed, and color. No one has the right to point a figure on anyone’s truth, knowledge, personality, and gender. However, point of view can be corrected at a certain notion but not forced and objectified. The spectrum of personality has many beautiful colors. Each color comes from a different observation and deserves attentive respect. One cannot win by slouching others. It may give temporary pleasure to our downtrodden ego but a long-lasting disturbance to the soul. This kind of behavior gives Deja vu at the age of maturity. But the realization is too late and the disease of ego is already transmitted to multiple others and they may have adopted the same attitude just because they feel it is acceptable. Snapping out gives them a sense of greatness and it becomes a social norm.
An apathetic mindset is a child of ego. We naturally drown in an abyss of selfhood. Where we do not give space to stand any other but ourselves. The radius of learning doesn’t only stop at education but extends to behavior too. When we stop learning we stop growing. As a result, we tend to limit our ability to understand the human mindset. Setting boundaries and keeping an eye on surroundings according to one’s will and wish is fine but allocating standards of respect according to people’s designation and their financial position is like going over the board. I have been emphasizing embracing empathy since the day I started writing. The period of struggle gives us a golden chance to choose people from all walks of life. It leads us to understand the underground realities of people. It makes us empathetic toward the issues they are facing on a daily basis. It discourages the attitude of ungratefulness. It makes us soluble which can be dissolved in dire straits. It keeps us grounded.
One of the main and my favorite topic to debate on is human satisfaction level. I am pretty excited to put my perspective on the table. I see people hither and thither who don’t feel satisfied with what they are doing. I see people who have jobs with ample amount of perks and financial benefits. I see people complaining about the institution they are affiliated with. I see people eating the jobs of an actual unemployed candidate by reapplying for a similar job they are doing. As far as I am concerned, I find this act ungraceful and these people ungrateful. Among them, there are people who realize late that they wanted to become someone and become someone else due to peer pressure and the unavailability of career counseling. This issue buttress personality conflict and emotional frustration in general. Fitting into Parents’ frame of desires and society’s harmonized rules and regulations lowers self-esteem. Guardians need to realize that elephants cannot fly and swifts cannot walk. Comparison is the pinnacle of demotivation. As far as I think, Withholding guidance, on the institutional level is treachery. Each and every student have a right to be facilitated with a psychologist at the school level to provide career counseling. Moreover, on the office level, creating a sense of responsibility, realization, and seriousness among employees is obligatory. Respecting the institution and its time is paramount. I genuinely believe, if one couldn’t reach the level one has desired, one can command and conquer in their own respective fields.
One of the most foolish mistakes we do is blindly relying on fictional stories from movies and books. Bursting your bubble again; They are run of the mill. There’s no denial of the fact that some of them are reality-based and every individual has their own respective story of struggle. Following the path of others naturally, shift one’s focus. In this day and age people also suffer from FOMO syndrome which is the abbreviation of “fear of missing out” as a consequence of heavy usage of social media. We all want to do what other people are doing. We all want to have what our surroundings have. We all want to become what our fellow humans have become. We all want to wear what everyone else is wearing. Each one of us desires to visit the same place everybody is going to. As a result, we are losing our own individuality. We are so recklessly admiring the trend that we are lost in the crowd. Rather if we do not feel like fitting in a particular environment, why don’t we think of outlining our own? Leave the crowd! Don’t fit in other’s shoes if you don’t feel like it. Stay home if you don’t feel like going out. if you feel your environment is toxic, spend time with your own self and explore your own strengths and weaknesses, and try to work on them …. See things are extremely simple and we are making it complicated by relying emotionally on others…. It is what it is!
Everyone has their unique way of seeing life and handling what life throws at them. I cannot emphasize enough making your own way. Walk on your own path. Make your life comfortable. Stop focusing on everyone’s achievements. Your time will come as destined. However, never let selfishness take over your mind. Do not try to cross others. Respect is the key element that takes you to the highest level. Even if you are walking in expensive shoes and clothes, there is no shame in giving respect to the people doing blue-collar jobs. Your knowledge, age, and class are just mere subjects, your manners are your beauty. The blessing will hit differently when you remember what you have gone through to get them. Your timing is different, your blessing has not arrived yet but that doesn’t mean God has stored nothing for you. You will get what is yours…. Just stay humble!
Ending the note dearest to my heart by Pakistan’s most famous female novel writer;
Mrs. Bano Qudsia: “waqt say pehlay aur naseeb say ziyada kuch nahi milta…”
P.S: All of the above perspectives are my personal ones.
