Have you ever looked back at your life and realized that there are some missteps you could have avoided if you had the right guidance? Have you ever pondered over your life’s problems and become so clueless and realized that you have no idea where your life is heading? Have you ever sit alone and thought for a long time about how beautiful and easy your life would be if you knew what you want, and if you would have understood yourself completely? I am sure we all have done that at some point in our life. I cannot assure you that it would be easy because if it’s easy, it’s not life but I can assure you about one thing that it would be much more sorted in your own mind if you knew the way.
Well, no problem if you did not know the way, take a tough stand now and make the life of your choice than to regret missed opportunities and live an unfulfilling life.
So today, I will take you through the 7 life lessons I learnt from the movie “Dear Zindagi” when I recognized and found my inner ‘Jug’.
1. It is okay to choose an easy path
Sometimes we choose a difficult path because we think that to achieve something desirable we need to choose a difficult path, we punish ourselves because we think it’s important to get the things we want. But why can’t we choose the simple path, what is wrong in that especially when we are not ready to face the consequences of the difficult path? You will see in the movie that Kaira (Alia Bhatt) breaks up with her boyfriend Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor) but she is stressed as she might miss the chance of working with him in New York on an assignment which is one of her biggest dreams. She was not able to decide whether she should be emotional or professional at this point in her career. She decided to choose the easiest way by saying no to the assignment. Sometimes, you don’t need to ponder much about your decision, you should not stress and give all the attention to that decision, sometimes letting go is the best decision you can make, just like Kaira made hers.
2. We are all our own teachers in the school of life
Teachers play a very vital role in shaping our lives, we find teachers in many forms when we grow up. We are taught by teachers in school but when it comes to life, when we grow up, we need to become our own teacher because as humans, make mistakes and in the school of life, we need to learn from our mistakes. In real life, there is no better teacher than you to rectify your own mistakes. We need to talk to ourselves in order to get all doubts cleared.
3. Take the steering wheel of your life in your own hands
If we do not take the steering wheel of our life in our own hands, then someone else will sit at the driver’s seat. Exceptionally meaningful dialogue, isn’t it? When we understand ourselves, when we recognize ourselves, when we know what we are capable of doing, when we know our inner strength, when we know the all of ourselves, it does not matter what others think about us. So do not let someone else control your life even if they claim to know you more than you because they might have been with you, with your ups and lows, but they definitely haven’t spent the time you have spent with yourself. Keep the steering wheel in your hands and be ready for a joy ride because it is worth all the effort.
4. Don’t let your past blackmail your present to ruin a beautiful future:
What is the point of dwelling on your past, not enjoying your present and eventually ruining your future without even realizing? If you remember the movie, Kiara’s childhood memory (where she wanted her parents to love her, to understand her, to spend time with her) haunts her and because of that, she was not able to make life decisions out of the fear of getting hurt again. However, Jug (her therapist played by Shahrukh Khan) makes her realize that she needs to let go of her past and should live in the present if she wants to create a beautiful future for herself and that applies to every human being because most of the time we live with a small guilt without even realizing that that small guilt goes a long way and ultimately ruins us.
5. If you won’t be able to cry openly, then how will you able to laugh candidly?
Have you ever controlled your tears, your laughter, your feelings because you felt like no one cares? Well, in that case, if you think that they do not care about you then why do you need to care about them? It is better to scream, cry and tell people what you are thinking rather than curbing your feelings. The thing is, if you cannot cry freely, how will you be able to learn to laugh, to express love freely? That makes sense, right?
6. When you see a pattern forming in your life, think about it attentively
Whatever is happening right now in our life is, in some way or the other, interconnected with our future. Some decisions you make in life may look difficult and can be wrong sometimes, but this is how life works, you make mistakes, you learn from them, you live and repeat but whenever you see a pattern forming in your life, good/bad whatever it is, just sit in silence and think about it carefully, do not ignore it because that is your way out of everything you are stressing about now. Think about that pattern because it can be your way of happiness in life, it can be for what you want in life, it can be for everything that makes you happy. So think about it attentively.
7. Have some patience
Genius is not the person who has the answer to all the questions; a genius is a person who has the patience to reach the answer to every question. Sometimes, it is okay to make mistakes in life, sometimes it is okay to be sad but it is not okay to criticize yourself just because you are not getting what you want, and it is okay because trying chairs after chairs until you find that comfortable, cosy chair is a must. So, go easy on yourself and wait for the moment, learn to build that patience in yourself because it is the key to solve all the mystery of your life if you want to reach wherever you want to.
You are lucky if you have a Jug in your life, but if there’s none, then you should be the Jug of your own life. It’s said that everyone has a great counsellor, a great adviser somewhere inside their head. Maybe yours is coming together, but if you can’t find the right time to bring that counsellor into your life, just wait for it, remember the 7th lesson, because one day you will be able to.