It was Diwali time in India. The festival of lights as they call it. This is the time when the whole country is lit up and everyone is celebrating it with their near and dear ones. It is said these lights drive away the evil so all the houses are beautifully lit.
The office was already getting empty with all employees going on vacation. I too wanted to take a vacation and go home to spend sometime with my family, but something was stopping me. I was scared my manager would not approve my leaves. I was scared of rejection.
Just then, as one of my colleague was getting ready to leave for the day, he asked me what were my Diwali plans. I simply shrugged and said, “come to office and work”. He seemed shocked at my response. He asked why was I not going home. I hesitantly said that the manager won’t approve with so many already on leave.
It was then he told me those golden words, “How do you know when you have not even asked him yet. Atleast give it a try before you come to any conclusion”. These words just stuck me at the right place and it made so much sense. I did give it a try, and the next thing I know was I was on a flight to my native to spend the festival with my family. It was just the “little push” I needed.
Doesn’t this happen with most of us. We come to conclusion before even giving it a try, just because we are scared of rejection. What we don’t understand is, how will we even be able to taste success if we are not ready to face failure. If we only do a thing we are 100% confident of succeeding, will this success taste as sweet as when we succeed in something we have really tired hard for.
In the words of C. S. Lewis — Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success
So don’t wait for that little push from any external source. That push should be from within you, as unlike that one instance, we may not always receive the “push” at the right time and we may miss an opportunity that was laid for us.
Don’t be scared of rejection, be scared of not trying.