Storieo

Tag: hardwork

  • “Shadows of Luck, Steps of Determination”

    “Shadows of Luck, Steps of Determination”

    Once upon a time, in New Delhi, the capital city of India, lived two best friends, Aakriti and Himanshi. Their friendship almost seemed to be destined by the universe as they shared their birthdates, they lived only a few blocks away and they also happen to study in the same school. Every other thing in their lives was similar. Except for one which eventually turned out to be the game changer in their lives.

    Even after everything they had in common, the one thing that Himanshi had but Aakriti lacked was “Luck”. Though it didn’t make much of a difference in their preschool days, as they grew up, Their fate became more and more distinct from each other. Aakriti, who did not have Luck by her side had to work very hard to achieve the bare minimum of what she wanted. On the other hand, Himanshi had by now become aware of the odds which were always in favour of her no matter what. She only used to start studying the night before her exam and still always was amongst the top scorers in the class. Seeing this, Aakriti sometimes felt that her efforts were going in vain. All the teachers and students considered marks to be the deciding criteria for intelligence. Therefore, in any case, whenever it came to choosing between the two of them, Himanshi was prioritized. Despite all the odds that were against her, Aakriti still never gave up her hard work and determination.

    One day, both Aakriti and Himanshi were on a school trip to the Himalayas. Both were members of a team which was supposed to track towards the top of a mountain peak. But, unfortunately, just as they were about to reach the top, they got lost in the woods. There, they saw a wild beast and both panicked.  While Himanshi, who relied entirely on luck for everything was clueless in this scenario, Aakriti used the knowledge she had gained over the years with her hard work and told Himanshi to lie down as dead. She knew that the beast did not have a proper vision and that by lying down they would be camouflaged by the surrounding environment. As expected, the beast passed by and they were able to escape. Soon they were found by the search team of their camp. 

    This incident proved that “When it comes to life as a whole, the shadow of luck is merely an illusion and the steps of determination and hard work are the ones that really make a difference”.

  • Twist of Fate

    Twist of Fate

    Mark was born into a middle-class family. He lived with his older sister, Sasha, and his parents. He was very good in academics from childhood. Sasha was not as good as Mark at studying. This made Mark overconfident. He started to think that nobody is better than him at studying. Every time Mark earned good grades, their parents let her down.

    This all changed one day when Sasha started studying seriously. She worked very hard and showed Mark and her parents that she is also very good at studies. This left Mark with nothing but underconfidence and doubt in himself. From this point onward, Mark struggled with self-confidence and his academic grades went on lowering.

    The sides were reversed. Mark thought he is not as good as Sasha and can never leave her behind in their studies. Henry, their older cousin once visited them and he showed them their certificate of how good he has been in academics. Now, Mark wanted to leave behind Sasha as well as Henry in studies and Sasha only wanted to do the same but with Henry only.

    Now, Mark, Sasha, and Henry were studying very hard to top in their studies and reach the top. Soon came the exams and the results came out. Henry topped his exam and Sasha topped her exams, but Mark could not top his exam. This result made Mark feel much worse than he was feeling earlier.

    Henry and Sasha were older than Mark, so they finished college earlier. Mark was still in school when Henry and Sasha graduated. Mark felt that no matter what he did, he would never reach the top. Mark then realized that he has one thing on his side that Sasha and Henry do not, and that was time. Mark studied properly what Henry and Sasha did in college, but more importantly, he studied what they did not.

    This gave Mark an edge over them, as he got to do what they did at their age but, more importantly, what he would not have to do at that age. When Mark graduated, he scored more than Henry and Sasha but was still not satisfied as he did not reach the top. On the other hand, Henry continued going for the top and Sasha also went for the top.

    But the crown at the top was always changing hands as nobody always sits on the throne. What we should learn from this rat race is that comparison will always let you down. Even if you are successful, you will never be happy as long as you are comparing yourself to anyone.

    In this tug of war among Mark, Sasha, and Henry, they all are elevating themselves up by comparing themselves to each other but the real question is are they happy? The answer is no! They will never be happy until they are satisfied with their achievements.