The Liberation Border
A thin line between dreaming and doing
I have to be honest with you.
My goal was to start working on this post for the whole week— a small bit at a time.
That didn’t happen.
I was convincing myself with the excuse of being busy with family and other distractions.
I ruminated about what to write for a few days.
And I started working on this post two days before I intended to publish it.
But I finished it.
And that is what matters to me.
Historically, I have a defined pattern of doing things.
Find something interesting - Start to work on it like there’s no tomorrow - Things start to get tougher with time - Feel less motivated and lose interest - Find something else that is interesting - Repeat.
With my efforts to reflect upon myself, I have found out that I consistently delay my tasks until the very fag end of the deadline. It has happened throughout my life, be it academics, career, life decisions, etc.
Beatboxing, learning to play ukulele, writing (yes, I have tried before), personal upskilling projects, etc.
The silver lining is that I am productive during the crunch period. That helps, but I would not bet on the quality of the work.
Why does it happen to me all the time?
Why does it happen to anyone?
Imagine you are walking on a vast, arid land.
No signs of life as far as you can see.
You have one bottle of water with you on your journey.
You keep walking hoping you will make it to the greener pastures.
You walk slowly but steadily, one mile after another.
Sun blazing overhead, the wind hot and dry, the path cracked by the unforgiving heat.
Still, you muster on ahead, cautiously taking sips of water so that you won’t have to see an empty bottle before you reach your destination.
Every fabric on your body is soaked with endless streams of sweat.
Your pace has started to slow down.
Your mind starts to remind you, “This was a bad idea.”.
“Wait! What is that?”
Far ahead, a glimmer of hope. An oasis!
You pick up the pace, moving more confidently towards the serene water body.
“One step at a time!”
You spend whatever energy is left in you and move forward with the image of jumping into the water and cooling down. The bottle is also almost empty which needs refilling.
But with each step, the oasis seemed to magically move further ahead.
You keep trying, but the distance remains the same, and the thirst is ever-increasing.
You stop for a moment.
And then you realize, “It’s a mirage.”
The whole world starts to fall, crashing down on you. The hope - vanished in the hot and dry air.
But you can’t stop. It’s between life and death now.
Shrugging off with whatever strength you have, you move on, again.
Miles go by, and the bottle is long empty, with cracks on your lips and burns on every inch of your exposed skin, you move on.
Getting slower with each step.
Dark thoughts have started to creep into your head.
“Am I going to make it?”
“Is this how it ends?”
Suddenly, you feel a change in the air. It has started to feel cooler and not dry anymore.
You squint your tired eyes and look beyond.
Trees!
You gather pace with whatever energy you have left.
The tree line starts to get taller and taller with each step.
Finally, you make it to the edge of the forest!
But your face starts to pale, not with exhaustion but looking at what lies between you and the lush green cover.
A line of huge boulders high and difficult enough to climb across, even for a person fully fit and beaming with energy.
“I traveled so far, for so long, and all I get is this??”
You look around and see a small stream of water seeping out of the boulder cracks. You run over the stream and fill your belly like you have tasted water for the first time. Heavenly!
Without thinking or even trying to find a way across, you fill your bottle of water, rest a while, and turn back to where you came from.
“I am fine with what I have got back at home.”
Your dream of getting on the other side, well, remains a dream.
You are stagnant at where you are in your life. (Dry arid land)
You have a dream, an idea that could change your life. (Lush green forest far away)
You leap and start working towards your dream. (The journey)
Things start to get difficult along the way, but with enough motivation, you move ahead. (You lose energy, water drying out, and unbearable heat)
You even get occasional false hopes that demotivate you, but you soldier on. (Mirages!)
Slowly, your grit and motivation start to fade without any vision of your destination. (Self-doubt and emptying motivation to carry on)
Still, you move on with the little interest that remains. (Last reserve of everything you got)
And then you see the final destination, the last lap of your journey. (A glimmer of hope)
You are excited to some degree but also exhausted due to the lack of results.
Then, you realize the final hurdle in front of you. (Boulder wall!)
It’s too much!
I don’t have what it takes to get to the other side!
Dejected, you turn back to your old life. (Back to square one!)
Your dream of getting on the other side, well, remains a dream.
The thin line standing between your current reality and your desired future is what I like to call The Liberation Border.
The Liberation Border is not that difficult to cross across. Many people have done it and realized their dreams.
Very few extraordinary people have done it only by sheer grit, determination, and motivation.
How did the rest of them make it across?
They had the right tools to help them through.
Wouldn’t it have been easier if you had a rope, axe, and some anchors?
Without these tools, it becomes a herculean task where you get lost without direction and ultimately, give up.
I am currently trying to embed these tools in my life to help me get across the line.
I have tried and failed numerous times without the tools.
It is high time I experiment with the tools and find the right one for me.
You can find yours too.
Are you using any tools to assist you in your journey? What are the tools that you have been using? I would love to know!
I will write about what worked for me and what other tools are out there that might work for you.
If you find this newsletter helpful, share it with others who might find something interesting to change their lives.
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Until then, I will enjoy my journey, however hard it might be, and move forward.