Grow Wings

In my role as Dean of Students at Shiv Nadar University, I am privileged to interact and spend time with young people. Their energy and enthusiasm gives me great hope and a sense of confidence in the future. They are after all, the generation who are going to script the future for our society, our country and the world.

All of us are faced with challenges and setbacks on the personal, family, as well as academic fronts. I make it a point to spend time speaking with students facing challenges, to offer them a perspective that they might not have considered. This often helps them better deal with the situation and also at times reduces the anxiety and stress that they are experiencing.

Recently I was interacting with a student who was feeling low and overwhelmed with a certain situation. She felt unhappy and put out about circumstances that were stretching her time and energy. Here is what I told her:

"Think of a bird. Its wings allow it to stay aloft, come down gently when it must, and take of again when it needs to. Gravity is always pulling it down! If the bird did not develop its wings, and use them, it would crash to the ground. Whenever you are in a situation that you feel is making big demands of your abilities, or stressing you out, think of it like 'Gravity', and imagine the efforts you make as the process that is shaping you into the person you are going to become. The more challenges you face and go through, the more capable will you grow to face challenging situations and emerge stronger. You will grow the 'Wings' we all must develop to stay aloft in life, and land safely without crashing and hurting ourselves."

This may sound too far-fetched to some of us. Start small, with small challenges. Try it next time you feel stressed working on a particular task or being with a certain person. Imagine there is a 'muscle' that you need to be able to complete the task or spend that necessary time with the person you find difficult to work with. Think of the muscle growing stronger, with each 'Rep' (period of time, page, sub-task, chapter, whatever you can break the task or time down into). You need to do a 'Set' of such 'Reps' then take a rest. Mark your 'Presence' to yourself, each 'Workout', and watch magic happen!

When we can bring ourselves to see difficulties and problematic situations from this perspective, they can become enablers of our growth. Wouldn't we all like a strong pair of 'Wings' to soar on? They are there for the making. You've just got to see things a little differently from now on! Grow your Wings!