Our parents, elders and
teachers keep on telling us since our childhood days that if we do the right
thing right away and make the struggle as our true friend, we would develop
ourselves well and get success in all our endeavours more or less as per our expectation,
sooner or later. They have also been trying to impress that there is no
short cut to success and only through proper planning, dedication, commitment,
knowledge, patience and consistent hard work, it is possible to ensure
progress, success and happiness in life. There are several motivational books
and videos on the subject in the market to underline these points.
Have you seen the farmers working in the fields; the soldiers protecting the country; daily wage workers doing different jobs and many others who are meaningfully engaged in different vocations in all seasons – rainy, winter and summer? Can anyone dispute the fact that the life of everybody is the story of struggle - long or short, less or more, tough or slightly difficult? Is it possible to achieve real success without consistent struggle?
Actually, struggle and success are two sides of the same coin. There are thousands of real-life stories across the world about many great people in all walks of life who struggled indefatigably year after year to achieve seemingly unachievable goals, may it be freedom of their country from slavery of foreign rule or the socio-economic revolutions for an equitable and just society or numerous discoveries and scientific inventions or any other goal.
If that is so, there should not be any major reason for those people who suffer from negative thoughts and feel demotivated or demoralized when confronted with a difficult situation where they are required to come out of their comfort zone to perform the job to the best of their ability. But sadly, the number of such types of people are on the rise. As a natural outcome, they are making their life as well as the life of their family members quite miserable without any valid reason or rhyme. Why does this happen?
A number of experts are of the opinion that we are basically
comfort loving. As such, we are generally reluctant to embrace struggle as our
natural companion in life despite knowing very well that the struggle in
anybody’s life is not unusual or uncommon. It is rather part of our long
dynamic life cycle and we should be thankful for this as only by travelling
through our own struggle route, we become able to develop strength to face our
present and future in a better way. That’s why Henry Rollins says,
“Strength is the product of struggle; you must do what others don’t to achieve
what others won’t.”
It is rightly said by Marian
Wright Edelman, “Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle
for.” Many thinkers have also been saying it in different manner that as the
gold gets a better sheen and shine after going through the test of fire, so is
the human being who is required to go through the struggle cycle of varying
magnitude to achieve the desired goal in life. To say, the fruits of success
become sweeter when it is achieved through the route of struggle. Amos Bronson
Alcott puts it in this way, “Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and
gotten through many struggles and defeats.”
In fact, struggle exposes us
to many challenges which ultimately pave the way to our manifold
accomplishments and progress – may it be our enhanced level of self-confidence,
knowledge base, dedication, strength, commitment, experience, empathy and
compassion. Undeniably, the harder the struggle, the more glorious is the
success. It is interesting that even in the dictionary, struggle precedes
success.
Just think for a while about the historical feat of Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and his co-mountaineer Tenzing Norgay of Nepal who unfurled the flag of success for the first time on 29029 feet high Mount Everest in May, 1953 by putting the exemplary level of struggle despite mountain of odds during the course of their expedition. There are many such extraordinary achievements in other fields of activity as well, of course with a common message that great friendship with struggle guarantees great success. Finally, the golden words of Noam Chomsky who says, “Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of the struggle from below.” So, enjoy the fruits of your struggle.
As always, I'm keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, I request you to post your comments to share your valuable opinion. (hellomilansinha@gmail.com)
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