Keep Rolling, Keep Moving.

Everything about our lives seems questionable these days. 2020 in a politer phrase could be summed up as a year associated with 'thwarting of plans'. Plans or no plans, the sense of a purpose dwindles. 

I met my writer's block sooner than I expected. I mostly took time off to collect my thoughts, all the while, my dear ones asked with concern, "When are you publishing the next post?" Specially Mom! But how do I explain, that sometimes the will to put my thoughts out there leaves me; sometimes I want to be alone with them. Things affect the best of us and leave us feeling, 'what for?' Feeling lost, numb or in the throes of a predicament from where everything else seems a blur is nothing new for many of us. Every time, it feels that we surpassed the last and hit a whole new rock bottom. The absurdity of living, of waking up, and doing chores to an end, we all can't change. Speaking about absurdity reminded me of an absurd hero, 'Sisyphus'. 

Just to refresh, 'Sisyphus' was a Greek evil king that cheated death twice! To put him down, as an exemplar, he wasn't given a final swooping death, instead a vicious circle that he lived times infinity. So he rolls a boulder to the top of a cliff only to start over again till eternity. Talk about brutality! Zeus, the God who penalized him was giving him no way out or did he give this overachieving notorious king a never ending purpose?

Sisyphus

 Looking at this picture he reminds me of an ant!

I want to share the story of how an ant was moved from it's path by a playful child. 

Eventually displaced from its journey further away,  it had to start tracing it's way home all over again. Ants don't have clocks but they are hard working creatures that continue toiling unless they are barred by some external force. Even if it's path is blocked, it looks for another way. 

What resonated (and yet I forget many a times when I am feeling low) about that displaced, puny and stubborn ant is that we have to keep moving, especially when we know fretting about a situation is of no use. Somehow even after we curl up into a ball, at the end of the day, we still owe it to oursleves to get back out there and do what we have to. 

Back to Sisyphus! He too was valiant, someone who did not give up. He demonstrated that by rolling that heavy boulder over and over again not just because he ran out of other options. He rebels by accepting his subjugation and he does so proudly in defiance!

It is braver to be defiant, to fight the odds stacked against. To stop and sulk will only mean that we left our chance in the hands of fate. Giving up is equally disappointing as the challenge that lies ahead. We procrastinate, because we feel like we have no control. But a crisis can be an opportunity, one that we can choose to bounce back in. And it is always better to be the master of one's fate! 

When I finally finished this piece, I felt more pumped than the past few weeks had me feeling. The kind of feeling that, come what may, nothing is insurmountable. Life is like that too. We learnt to live, survive and thrive in this pandemic too!  Come what may, nothing should make us stop living, nothing can make us feel like we have reached a dead end. Life demands momentum, even our heart cannot stay still, with every beat we live!

And in the end, I leave you with this.

I love how David Blaine reached a new height with his dare-devilry. Being a world famous illusionist would have been enough for many, but this guy did not want to settle with just that. In these times, he decided to fly.

"Every single stunt that I've ever done is about endurance and pushing past what I thought would be possible," Blaine said.

No matter the plethora of problems we have, we are better off if we keep moving and pushing harder instead of laying low and letting them clip our wings. 

Keep rolling, keep moving or just float!