First decade of the millennium 2000. In the beautiful city of Bangalore. A dream job, in a budding company. Life was good and nothing more to ask. As days and years progressed, realization came in that human needs and wants never end. Becoming a family and other situations added to this fact and made us think of getting a four-wheeler to supplement the two-wheeler we then had.
Obvious questions came up of budget, make and model. Keep in mind that our company CEO drove a Toyota Corolla then. Considering our expenses and savings plan we decided to settle on a Hyundai i10, a small and comfortable city car. That was the best we could do then. Anything beyond that would’ve been little less than blasphemy, considering the constraints and the social environment we were in. If your CEO himself is driving a Corolla, an i10 was good enough for you.
But destiny was to have the first drive and before even we knew and the downpayment could be given for the i10, we got uprooted to Dubai. The second decade of year 2000 had just begun. I was quite fortunate to get the UAE license early enough. Soon it was time to take the decision on a car, again. Now, this time the tables turned. I truly realized the meaning of the saying ‘frog in the well’ and how perceptions could increase or decrease the quality of your life.
As soon as I landed in Dubai, one of the most common sights that welcomed me was of Dubai Taxi. It is a corporation run by a bunch of taxi companies. Majority of the taxi cars then were Toyota Camry, which was one model placed above Toyota Corolla, the car which my CEO drove back in Bangalore. A similar exercise was conducted to analyse the expenses and savings plan to decide on the EMI capacity. To our pleasant surprise we realized that we have now have equalled my CEO of the previous company, at least for the car model. That realization resulted in a beautiful mica red Toyota Corolla landing on our parking lot the very next day!
That was not the only time this reality hit us. Most of us spent a life like the proverbial tiny frog in captivity in the well. We rarely realize our true potential until we decide to shake off from the comfort zones we are in and try something different. Trust me, this is not an easy task. There could be multiple reasons why we all resist change. It could be commitments, financial or otherwise. It could also be that we are unsure of ourselves and our capabilities to go above and beyond. Or it could just be that we are being plain lazy.
Whatever said and done, we may need a stimulant to get that frog in us jump out of the well and see the world beyond the dark dungeon we are in at that point of time. Find that stimulant and use it wisely. What needs to be kept in mind is that it is a never-ending world of wells. You jump from a smaller well to a bigger one. The more you are willing to expand your thoughts and your vision about your future, the wider will be your perceptions. You will start seeing the world that you had never experienced before.
There are tonnes of ways by which you can do this. Travelling, reading, interacting with people beyond your operational boundaries are all just a few ways to do this. Above all, have an open mind to see things differently so that you can experience a better life and more importantly help you stop judging others around you.
Break the walls of your well, the world if a much larger playground!
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