LESSONS I LEARNT FROM — The Midnight Library!
Every book I read, whether fiction or nonfiction, I make mental notes of certain statements and nuances that touch me in some way. I also highlight some lines as I go along, with the intention of coming back to them sometime later to learn a lesson or two maybe. (Ah okay, most of the times, I don’t go back)
But with “ The Midnight Library” I honestly did go back and read all the lines I had highlighted. (Believe me, I did)
Here’s what it taught me.
- TRUE KNOWLEDGE EXISTS IN KNOWING NOTHING
Oftentimes we think, rather assume we know it all, that we are experts in our field and we live with this assumption until someone/something bursts our little vanity bubble.
Well, the truth is, we can never know everything! And there is no other way around it.
The day we are able to see beyond these emotional assumptions, the day we realise how little we really know is when we will truly be knowledgeable.
2. CHOICES WILL ALWAYS REMAIN ABOVE ABILITIES
How many times have you said/thought to yourself “I can’t” (All the time right? I know) Well, more often than not, it’s not true.
Stop telling yourself you can’t because you sure can. We always have a choice, to make a choice!
And it is our choices that will show us who we really are, not the outcomes. Having said that, Excellent choices almost always result in excellent outcomes. Excellence is never accidental!
3. HAPPIER PEOPLE PROBABLY ADD 4 EXCLAMATION MARKS IN A ROW!!!!
If you have to try to be happy, you certainly aren’t going to be. Happiness isn’t something that you can try to achieve. You just are happy, or you aren’t and that’s about it. Why? Because it is hard to predict the things that make us happy. We often think to ourselves “Once I buy that goddamn ferrari I shall be happy.”
Well, I think we’re confusing pleasure with happiness here! (Think about it)
Also, while we are talking about happiness a FUN FACT about sadness too!
There is no way of living that can get you used to sadness. There is no life where you can be sorrow free. So, anticipating or wishing for such a life will just add more sadness to it.
4. EMBRACE THAT YOU-NESS
If you aim/try to be someone you’re not, you will always fail.
Imagine your life is a play. You’re given a character that you’ve been practising, rehearsing and playing since forever. Suddenly on stage you switch to another character, someone you haven’t practised, someone YOU’RE NOT!
What then? You will be caught right? Because It will show and the audience will see through it. You can’t hide it.
So, does it then make sense to be someone you’re not?
Always aim to be you, to look like you, to act and think like you.
You’re all you have, so work hard at it, endorse it and don’t bother when people ridicule you.
5. TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED WILL MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Why do most of us follow? Because we need validation and to feel safe and secure (it is safe to follow something that is already tried and tested and has been a success). Risks are uncomfortable, solitude is uncomfortable. But, solitude is the best companion you could ever have. It lets you build a connection with yourself. Lets you seek your inner intelligence and strengthens your intuition thus helping you in being comfortable with being alone. And this habit of being alone, taking the road less travelled will be a major contributor in your success.
6. REGRET — KICK IT OUT OF THE WINDOW!
“If only” — two words that can eat up your conscience. Every choice you make has an outcome. If the outcome is not as expected, we often fill ourselves with regret. It is easy to regret and keep regretting till we run out of time. But, regrets have no destination, it almost always leads nowhere. The things we regret doing or not doing aren’t really the problem. The actual problem is THE REGRET ITSELF!
7. BIG IMPORTANCE OF SMALL THINGS
Life is all about the small things that happen everyday, while we are busy making big plans. Small actions become habits, small thoughts become attitude and values, the little things we see, share or do with our people become big memories.
(That impromptu small budget trip is always more remembered and cherished as compared to that meticulously planned and well executed one)
BIG IS OVERRATED!
SMALL IS LOVE!
8. CAN YOU UNDERSTAND LIFE?
No! You are not suppose to understand life. You are suppose to simply live it the way it is because it is difficult to make sense of.
It is easy to wish for lives we aren’t living, easy to want talents you don’t have, easy to wish you made different choices, had better finances, loved harder and be someone else’s version of yourself. But it takes courage to own up everything that you make out of your life.
Do you think life will one day be free of pain, sorrow, heartbreak, fear or despair?
NO,
BUT LIVE ANYWAY!