29 Dec Never let your work steal the Life in you
The last 18 years I’ve been in Dubai, I’ve endured this annual phenomenon. I’ve driven through it. Reported about it. Written about its impact… How it causes road accidents, how many deaths it caused, how many it seriously injured, how many moderately hurt, how many flights it cancels, how many passengers it let suffer, how to be wary of it, how to avoid it…
Foggy mornings were always welcome as a journalist. With snake-like ears I waited for disasters to publish headlines. The lengthier the vehicle pile-up, the gorier the accidents, the greater the numbers of passengers affected the merrier the newsroom was. Our day was made.
But today, I saw the fog differently. I watched its beauty. I watched its mystery. I felt it on my skin. Under my feet. On my face I let it drizzle.
I enjoyed the foggy Dubai morning for the first time in two decades. It’s awesome. It teased the girl in me. I kicked off my shoes and played on the grass, giving two hoots to covered-up passers-by gawking at me. Without a care to the drivers staring at me from inside their warmed-up SUVs I drew patterns on the wet grass-bed.
It’s amazing. No doubt, it’s dangerous if you are reckless in such a weather. But, it’s awesomely beautiful if you are careful.
I regret not having enjoyed the fog all these years. All I had to do was publish that distasteful story and step out for a gig. But I never did it. Instead, I published one and scouring for the next fatal impact it unleashed.
It’s HOW you choose to see it.
Pressure of earning a livelihood can make you a straight-jacketed horse, making you overtly cautious and extremely nervous robbing you off your LIFE. You always have pressing matters to deal with that you postpone seeing the beauty of life.
Little do you realise, it is this attitude that sediments within you over time turning you into a bitter personality.
On my way back home, I watched a young woman rush out of her apartment, swearing ‘shucks!’. It’s sad, she considered her day doomed stepping out into the fog. Worse, is the fact that she saw the sky only at 9am.
Yes, you have to prepare for the day. Yes, you have to face professional deadlines and hurdles and personal hiccups. Yes, you may have a ‘looooong’ day. Yes, you may have an exhaustive to-do list. Yes, you may be unwell. Yes, you may have woken up with a sore back or a throbbing head. Yes, you may have to collect that dreaded medical report…
Whatever they may be, the fact is you WOKE UP. You OPENED your eyes. You are BREATHING. It’s a gift. This day may be sunny, humid, rainy, foggy, chilly, dusty… Yet, it is a NEW day. It is NEW chance. A DIVINE GIFT, which you have not crafted. One that you have not orchestrated. One that you have not created for yourself.
This is one gift no money can buy. You cannot use your might to steal or bully or snatch from another. This is one gift you are given because the Divine considers you DESERVING.
How long does it take to open your windows or your doors and step out and look at the sky and say a ‘Thank you’ for this GIFT of a new day each morning!
Make it a practise to wake-up and step out. At least look out. Look up at the sky feel the LIFE inside you. Appreciate it. You are lucky to have it.
Be grateful! Be thankful!
How about making this your New Year Resolution!
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