Perception

Ronak worked in an IT company and had too much of workload. He was frustrated not only with his work but also with his life. Every day, he complained about his small uncomfortable house, with its small fitting problems, water problems and the regular traffic issues. He was single as he always found faults in girls, whomever, he dated. Overall, he hated his life.

He woke up early every day and forced himself to go to the office. Booked a taxi, which used to be one hell of a work, as it never came on time. Daily he got warnings from his boss for reaching office late. He worked nearly 10-12 hours daily. Most of the time, due to his heavy work he reached home almost at midnight. He always felt exhausted and slept on his couch as he never had any stamina to even go to the bedroom.

Gradually he was losing interest in everything. He felt his life has become hell. He never got time to eat a proper meal. So, he always had anything available to him in his canteen that could be handy and taken away. He started feeling sick and unhealthy. Hence, he started cribbing about his work and his office management for ruining his life. Sometimes when he left early from office, he always joined his friends' group and cribbed about their conditions. Because of his regular cribbing, he felt only the negative energy around him all the time. Due to his massive work on weekdays, the weekends ended up in sleeping more and eating junk and watching movies online.

There’s an urban legend about a taxi cab that doesn’t take you where you want to go, but where you need to go. One night, after office he stepped into this cab. He was so sleepy that he slept off for some time and when Ronak woke up, he was in a different place. He fought with the driver for bringing him to the wrong place, but the driver refused to take him back and forced him to get off from his cab.

Ronak was furious. He started walking towards the main road. There was no network to book another cab. He wasn't even sure where he was. He looked around and saw many big cement pipes and was surprised to see people living in those pipes. He felt little worried thinking he could be attacked by those people to steal things from him. He walked faster. The area was entirely covered with a dump of garbage, and he couldn't breathe. He covered his nose and started running. He saw few kids playing happily outside their pipe houses. Few ladies' chit-chatting and giggling. Soon he noticed, they started staring at him, and few men gathered and walked towards him. He was terrified and requested them, “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll give you what I have, but please don’t hurt me.”

One of the men asked, ‘Who are you?’

Ronak explained everything. They comforted him and offered him a glass of water. He looked at the glass and hesitantly refused. He took out his bottle from his bag and drank. Soon he felt relaxed and asked them, ‘Do you guys live here?'

‘Yes’

‘But… it is covered with garbage. How can you live here? Why don’t you fight with the government?’

‘For what?’

‘For such a living condition!'

They all laughed, and one of the elderly men explained, ‘We don't want to complicate things. We can't afford to take a house for rent. We all do manual labor work all day and sleep peacefully here. We are happy that, at least we have someplace to live and no one comes here to bother us. Of course, sometimes, we do get disappointed for not getting sufficient money for living, but then life is all about experiencing both happiness and pain.’

Ronak was amazed by seeing them smiling, even after having so much of problems around. He compared their life with his. He suddenly felt, he is such a blessed one to live in a good house, having a proper job where he can sit comfortably on a cushioned chair with AC running all day. Though he worked a lot, he could go back home and sleep on his comfortable couch or his bed. He started respecting his lifestyle.

Soon they arranged him an auto, and he left from there. As soon as he opened his house door, it looked so beautiful as heaven. He smiled and laid down on his bed and hugged his pillow and slept comfortably.

The next day, he got up early and was happy to go to the office. He started looking at things around him differently. His perception towards life changed. Every day he stopped dragging his office workload and its pressure to home. He also avoided cribbing sessions with his friends' group and spent that time to do things what he liked. On some weekends, he experimented his cooking skills and invited few friends over lunch or dinner and spent his life spreading positive energy.

There is no such thing as actual reality. There is only your perception of reality. Life is all about perception. Positive vs negative, whichever you choose will affect, and more than likely reflect your outcomes.