FALLING….

All too often we trip, stumble over and lie on the dusty and harsh sidewalk. The humiliation of getting up, the anticipated stares and burst of laughter to follow is traumatizing. As if the fall was not embarrassing enough, we have to get up, clean ourselves and pretend like nothing happened. Some of us stumble off staircases, others simply over an uneven pathway.  The humiliation is all the same despite the type of fall you endure.

I’ve seen an alarming number of my friends falling… sinking… and drowning.  A large number of these friends are drowning in Graduate Programmes that don’t serve their expectations; some facing emotional break downs over failed relationships and others simply fighting a losing battle with their academics and as if things were not bad enough, the year is pacing towards the end with not a single goal in arm’s reach.

When faced with such falls, getting up, brushing off the dust and being on your way is not as easy as 1 2 3. It is harder keeping your eye on the end goal. It is almost impossible to keep the smile of optimism when nothing seems to be going well. But it is in our nature to keep ourselves going, pacing towards those very goals we have set for ourselves.

I recently heard a “week’s changing line” from an old movie, A Maid in Manhattan. It inspired me to share my sentiments about falling because it is inevitable not to fall in life. Every single person goes through a period of falling and what made this movie memorable is when they said: “What we do does not define who we are ... what defines us is how we rise after we have fallen”

I learnt that despite what we face in life, irrespective of how big or small, it is how we rise after the fall that defines our character,  that which determines who we are. It is the ability to admit that you have fallen and asking for a helping hand. It is overcoming your ego that will make room for better opportunities in life. It is accepting the pain, dealing with it and moving on.

So if you are suffering from a failed relationship... get up and try again. If you are depressed over that test that did not go as well as you’d hoped, get up and study for the exams. If you are in that job that brings you unhappiness... embrace that you have a job and learn as much as you can...

Falling will wound you, but healing will come sooner than you anticipate. And when it does... you need to be ready to get up and be on your way...