Tough Times Don’t Last, Tough People Do

“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,” said Robert H. Schuller.

This happens to be one of my favoritestest quotes.

We all go through good and bad times, but just when we’ve made ourselves believe that ‘my life’s the best’ or that ‘I’m the luckiest’, somebody up there goes and ruins everything. It’s like he or she, whosoever is up there, has taken it upon himself or herself to make our lives miserable.

So, obviously, we are jolted out of our beautiful reverie and ask the most clichéd but relevant question ‘Why me? Come on, I’ve been good, I haven’t been nasty… blah…blah…blah…’. Of course, no one bothers to answer that question coz the ‘almightyji’ is perhaps having a nap after going and screwing up our perfectly made heaven and mortals like us support us by giving us stupid advice and anecdotes because even they, poor fellows, are equally clueless.

But, yes, if we actually look back and observe our bad times, we will realize that we have learnt a substantial lot from them, so the teaching was not actually student friendly, but great teaches (check history) were always cruel.

I’ve discovered (from my various and nefarious bad times) that they were not all that bad; they have actually served a very important purpose in my life. They have ended up making me a better person; they have filtered out nice people from amongst the morons I knew. Coz the morons were the first ones to make a beeline for the exit when the tough times have come knocking.

A few things have actually acted like a balm in the most difficult of times, let me share these miraculous things with you:

• Some very- very close family members, I’m not taking about the relatives; I’m talking about the family members. People who reciprocate your emotions and cry when you cry and so on and so forth…
• Books, some of the books that I’ve read in not so good times were amazing. Nothing, absolutely nothing can replace the learning that I’ve got from those books. I remember reading- If Tomorrow Comes, Tuesdays with Morrie, Great Expectation, Wuthering Heights, Personal Excellence through the Bhagawad Gita, The Firm, Eleven Minutes, Heal Your Life… The list goes on and on…  Each of these books were phenomenal. So, the moment I feel that the ‘Almightyji’ is now going to entertain himself at my expense, I get my quota of books and read.
• Exercising- walking, running, aerobics, dancing… Oh, the sweat and all that hard work helps release the happy chemicals into your brain and you feel great. I’ve been able to give my best during the days when I’ve been completely into fitness.
• Meditation, I’d learnt Transcendental meditation long time back and I’ve realized that a calm mind can find solutions to almost all kinds of problems, if not that calmness gives you the strength to deal with all kinds of problems.
• Someone had once told me this golden phrase ‘this too shall pass’ and it has become my mantra.
• Forgiving- this is something that I’ve found toughest. Forgiving! I’ve felt like beating up some people to pulp (yeah, my garam bhaiya khoon) and I’ve felt like calling them names and giving them choicest of gaalis and I’ve felt like killing them. All this continued, till I realized and felt that I loved myself more than I hated the other person or people. This realization didn’t come easily, books like Heal Your Life helped. Oh, even now, the ‘bhaiya khoon’ becomes active many a times, but my love for myself wins in the end.

So, folks, allow things to take their own time in settling down. What you and I can do is to remain calm, remain focused and remain sure of one thing that the ‘Almightyji’ is on our side, of that you and I should be certain.

Keep smiling…