How you deal with the hand you’re dealt with determines where you will go in life
Imagine you got robbed of your entire life savings. Or your house was completely gutted in a fire. Or perhaps, you met with an accident and are now crippled for life or have been diagnosed by a life threatening illness with only months to live.
How would you react to such misfortune? Most would have the typical reaction of disbelief, or of denial. They may get into a depression or worse, would suffer the rest of their life brandishing themselves as a ‘victim’ of their circumstances. It will do no good to them nor to their families and friends, who also have to silently suffer. Also, even if an escape from reality to a fantasy world thinking, “what if things were different?” give us temporary pleasure, it is of no use since we cannot go back into the past to change our reality.
In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna not to cry over our circumstances, and things that have already happened. For it is only with acceptance that we can let go of the past, and try and find a new and meaningful direction for a new life.
The Paralympics Badminton Champion Manasi Joshi has taken to this philosophy well. After meeting with an accident where she lost one of her legs, she didn’t lose hope. Nor did she give up. Today she not only uses a prosthetic leg to walk, but she’s also winning badminton tournaments wearing one! Listening to her inspirational Ted Talk can surely give hope to people who believe there is none.
Life may feel cruel when it throws a curveball especially when things are going well. A pregnant lady getting detected with cancer, a shooter hopeful of winning at the Olympics turning blind due to a sudden eye infection, or seeing your shop with its entire inventory getting wiped out in once in a thousand years flood.
Ultimately, it takes courage to overcome a situation from where we see no hope. However, no one else can help us with healing and it is up to us to accept our reality, and to find a new meaning to life. Just like Manasi Joshi did.