When Jerry jumped on me!

Well yes, one fateful night while fast asleep I had an uninvited guest in my room – Mr. Jerry (that rat from the Tom & Jerry fame); who didn’t quite like the way I slept so chose to jump right on my head and wake me up in horror. Up I sprang from my bed! shaken and shouting; and within seconds I was hugging my mom with half my belongings carried somehow. Like a child, or may be worse, I’m too scared of rats and a few other creepy crawlies who I don’t mention as the mere name of it brings disgust. For several days to come I had my very own refugee camp in the drawing room…

There are times in life when reality hits you just like Jerry did – sudden, unexpected and scary. But it brings two benefits along – 1) reminds you of who is your go-to person – your basic support system; and 2) your abilities to overcome the event. In this case, while Jerry (coz’ calling it mouse makes me feel creepy) scared me crazily, I knew who to run to at that hour and what to do next. I was forced to wake up and create a makeshift within minutes because I was too sleepy. The next few days went in discovering the possible entry points of Jerry until I finally found a neat little hole in the window net.

Ever thought of what scares you? What is it that makes your spine chill? And who is that one person (at least one) whom you can openly ask for help and in front of whom you can display your fear fearlessly. Sounds funny but think of it and you would agree that displaying your fear or weakness to someone needs sheer courage. It needs guts to say that I am scared or I need help.

In today’s world the levels of stress have increased exponentially not just because of high levels of work pressures, targets & deadlines, competition, etc; but also because we have fed our egos bit too much. We refuse to accept defeat, we refuse to agree upon a point that our competitor made – even though deep within our minds we may know it is right, we can’t admit fear as it may make us look weaker and we absolutely cannot ask for help. My question is – Why?

To pull up an example for you, one of my dear friends (just as one lawyer may call the other when contesting in the court of law) has been facing some trouble at work and in life which made the person build too much stress in their mind. (Calling that one as ‘SS’ - just a name I gave for the purpose of this blog). May be SS could have talked their heart out and said openly what’s bothering them. May be SS could have asked for help if needed, may be admit that while they tried their best, their mindset or point of views could be totally wrong…No, that didn’t happen and as the case is, it won’t happen even in future. This causes SS’ life to be very stressful and seemingly unfair too. To hide this weakness, SS fakes a lot of happiness and is always on the go in life. And it is due to this very build-up of an unreal environment around their mind, SS may shortly begin and continue their downward spiral in life, making it more and more fake.

What would it really cost to admit that I am scared of Jerry? Ans: Nothing.

In fact I would have everyone around me warning me if I walk into a place where Jerry may be spotted. Would it be so harmful for me to admit my fears, accept my drawbacks and ask for help? Will I not get people who love me and care for me come along and sail me though it? Stress would actually reduce many folds in this world if all started being their original and open self and stopped faking their bravery, smartness and glory at a cost of their inner peace.

People say I’m non-diplomatic and that I don’t mince words. Yes that’s what I am. If I love something I don’t shy away from admitting it and if I fear or hate something, I’d still be expressive about it. Believe me; this Jerry is a smart guy. He doesn’t just come along to simply chill with you. He comes, teaches you a thing or two and runs away, leaving you to ponder over several aspects in life.

I really wish people overcome negative emotions such as faking enthusiasm while constantly cribbing about unreal stuff day-in and day-out, being jealous, feeling that life is unfair only to them, etc. Mankind created these tribes and civilizations not for such negative emotions but to come together and help one another cope with things and create belonging. It is only this feeling of brotherhood that will keep peace on this planet Earth – save those relationships before it’s not too late and make peace more within your soul than outside.