Stick to the Stuff You Know: Defying Stereotypes
If the caterpillar refuses to break out of its cocoon thinking that it will have to give away the warmth of the inside, then it could never experience being the beautiful Butterfly it is meant to be.
I have always envied the kids who could participate in any kind of event in school or college, be it as a dancer, singer, athlete, instrumentalist, academic genius, and whatnot. I have always wondered why don’t I fall into any of the already existing categories or even if I do classify into any of these, then which one is it? Where does my talent lie? What if my talent lies in something that I am yet to encounter? With my growing age, my worries only grew bigger.
While I have been busy all these years trying to figure out what I might be good at so that I can stick to it like we have been told for ages, I missed an essential piece of information and that is the human brain can be trained.
Children from a very young age are fed to believe that they must possess a certain kind of talent to be able to flourish in that field. This need not be completely true. Yes, it’s great if you are born with greater abilities or talents. But it’s okay even if you are not because one can train oneself to ace in a field of one’s choice and be successful by striving hard for it.
For instance, during the recruitment process, most IT companies hire engineering graduates irrespective of their stream ( software, mechanical, civil, electrical, and so on). How do you think that works? Shouldn’t they be hiring graduates specifically from the software field, who have already learned about or have a knack for it? I would say not necessarily because as I mentioned earlier any person can be trained and that’s specifically why the companies recruit also based on who can be trained rather than just who is skilled.
“Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do or achieve. Do what you want to do and be who you want to be.”- EMMA WATSON
Society tells us to walk the path most traveled because it is Human instinct to stick to the stuff that we already know of, to not take risks and be safe. The idea of doing something new scares us as it is beyond our comfort zone and breaking out of it might be risky and our brain is not yet trained to do it. So it tricks us into believing that we can’t do it.
I agree it’s nice and comfortable to walk on an already paved path, being aware of what holds for us in the journey. I am not saying it’s right or wrong. Just think of it from another perspective as to how exciting could it be to carve a different path and unfold new stories and experiences along your way. You get to keep the stories from an already paved path and also get to add on to it from your experience.
We as a society should normalize people being open about wanting to try different things without being judgemental and encouraging them if possible because :
Only When You Experiment Can You Experience Life to its Fullest.
