What happened to my Blog!!

“What has happened to your blog? Why is there no new post since a long time?” A dear friend asked me this question yesterday! And suddenly I realized that I had not written for quite some time. Well, to be honest, written, but not posted on the blog! Why? Many factors; but mostly excuses like, “other things kept me busy, I have been traveling, commitments at work and family” and there is a string of them to justify to none else but myself. However, now that I think of it, the most important and honest reason was the fear of living up to the expectations that I had set for me! My last few posts were liked and appreciated by my friends and readers and hence, I wanted to make sure that the next one I wrote was – ‘up-to-the-mark’! And this made me delay typing down my penned pages! I was apprehensive that what if my next post is not as good or as liked as the previous one? Therefore, when I started this post, I had no title in mind. I still don’t have one, but I know what I am going to write about. Fighting performance expectations – from others and mostly from you!

And more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is something which has been in our lives since school days. You came first in the examination; teachers and parents expected you to repeat the same and you studied harder and were tensed before the exam! You won a debate competition in college; you and your friends wanted you to do it again! You made an excellent presentation at work; you got nervous before your next one and put more efforts! Why? It was because, each time we accomplished something, we pushed the finish line further away and we were scared of reaching this very finish line which others or we ourselves had drawn for us! Isn’t that the reason we avoid doing many things in the first place?

It is difficult to fight these expectations, I know! Especially, when you have set an example for yourself and everyone including you, expects you to supersede your last work. And although we would love it that way, we need to remind ourselves that the life’s curve is like a sine wave – there are both crests and troughs equally. We have to realize that excellence is important, but so are efforts! It is important to keep moving. Remember, that Sachin does not hit a century all the time. And Mona Lisa was not the last painting by Leonardo da Vinci!