What are we usually told when we complain of being bored out of our lives?
‘Go take a walk, you’ll feel better’
‘Just go for a run, you’ll feel better’
‘Come, we’ll go out so you feel better’
Unfortunately, when ‘feeling better’ as an idea conflicts with the idea of life itself, most of us don’t really choose to endeavour outside. Instead, we are forced to live confined to the insides of our homes, lying on our beds or daydreaming on our couches since there is absolutely nothing better to do (or so we think).
What once existed in our minds as the ‘best year ever’ seems to be on a sloping trajectory that ends in sheer disappointment. However, since we are already stuck inside with “absolutely nothing to do”, why can’t we venture deeper into places we’ve never visited before?
Why can’t we venture deeper into ourselves?
For most of us, ‘looking within oneself’ would incite images of monks with shaved heads meditating with their feet hanging off the edge of a cliff. However, if we try to look past the apparent cringe, and explore the actual meaning of looking within, the results might be utterly shocking.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not proposing some vague mantra to ‘reinventing’ what we are and who we are, or some secret shortcut to sure success. No, this is simply an idle fifteen-year-old taking a look at the complex nature of how we perceive ourselves to be. Why must we always believe that we are pawns in a larger game of life? Why can’t we just narrow down on ourselves and focus on our place in the world, and what we want our place to be? Well, obviously, we can’t, you might say. The world doesn’t revolve around us.
Well, guess what? It really does, now.
A few months ago, it might have been the case that most of basically amounted to kegs in a larger machine, what with people telling us what to do, and when to do, and how to do.
But the question that begs to be asked is: Can they still do that? Do they still hold the power to control our lives, from miles and miles away? Probably not.
Then, what is it that we are waiting around for? Why can’t we accept our forced quarantine as a means to walking the path to self-discovery? Why must we always blame our conditions for our own missed opportunities?
I would have gotten myself fitter had this quarantine not closed the gyms.
I would have improved my social skills had I not been locked indoors.
This would definitely have been my year. If only I could go out again.
The truth is that most of us have been blind to the opportunities looking us in the eyes, for as long as we can remember. Why, then, do we still sit around on our couches, waiting for change to happen?
Want to get fitter? Go do it. Want a better relationship? Go make that effort. Want better pay (of course you do)? Go. Get. It.
Personally, the quarantine provided me with the opportunity to discover things I have always wanted to try, but never had the time or the guts to do. When nobody is looking at you or expecting anything of you, it gets easier to expect more of yourself, and look at yourself.
Ultimately, reflecting on our choices won’t really do us much good, unless we can figure out how to make better ones in the future. And what better situation to doing that, than the current one?
After all, it is important to reflect, because when we reflect, we mirror what we want ourselves to be.
About the Storyteller: Prajay Karkhanis is a fifteen-year-old school student from Delhi Public School, Sector 45, Gurgaon. He hopes to professionally write someday, and that is what he endeavours to do every day.
