/**I welcome one of my friends to co-author this article with me**/
Chaos,
a situation where our mind fumbles and heart rumbles. Everybody of
us, at some point of time face a chaotic situation. Before I get to
the helm of this topic, let me pose a question to you all, what is
actually chaos? Prima facie, it means a disordered situation where
one isn't able to decide what to do. By what I spoke just now then,
chaos is a pit, a pit which is rounded, where there is no corner,
everything seems even, every option seems viable and good to go with.
It is a concept that is feared and a concept that
is envisioned as this vast pit that is hard to escape from: A dark
pit where all humanity is lost and there is no order.
So, elaborating more on chaos as a disorder, the next question that comes to one's mind is where is the way out? We are always unsure about
every path we take may lead us down back where we are.We climb a
few steps of a ladder we just chose in the chaotic situation, look
down and finally fall back of being unsure of reaching the
destination. So, having explained in a abstract way, now let me take
a few examples:
Scenario: Suppose
Mr/Ms X is appearing for campus interviews, and his/her college is a
very renowned college in the country. Now X has too
many options on the plate. For him/her, every option seems to
be a good bet. Company A provides ample money, company B provides a
job profile he/she wants, company C also provides a job profile
of his/her choice.As he/she is not able to decide, he/she is in a pit, where
to him/her every option seems viable and good. He/she then
chooses a company from the plate halfheartedly so that somehow he/she
is able to get out of it. With partial dedication there he/she
always judges every situation minutely. If something ever goes wrong,
he/she will blame it on the choice he/she had made during the chaotic
situation. Finally , with total dissatisfaction he/she leaves the
company with framing up reasons for the same somehow in his/her mind
and getting satisfied temporarily.
Now
let us take another perspective keeping the same scenario in mind. Mr/Ms X has so many options, so this forms a chaotic situation, or is it?
The situation is not at all chaotic when Mr/Ms X knows what are his/her priorities. Even in the case of multiple companies offering the same
profile, he/she will now choose the best one since his/her thoughts
are directed. So, chaos is a situation which is backed by unclear
thinking or priorities. He/she uses the so called chaotic situation
to come up,rise up with the best possible option available. Just
think, if he had just one company offering him a job, would he have
had the privilege to work with the best in the market? Absolutely
not. So, Mr/Ms X has now risen from the chaos; not only risen but
also got the best possible option currently in market. So, what is
the conclusion of this scenario? It is that chaos can be used as a
ladder to come up with something which was otherwise not available in
an ordered and systematic situation.
I consider chaos as a combination of pleasure with pain. Pleasure because we are in the cloud of uncertainty as to what might turn up thus keeping the excitement quotient up. Pain because handling an uncertain situation requires a lot of mental effort and thinking out of the box; it also involves taking risks, sometimes even falling down and again getting up, which, to sum up, requires a great amount of endurance.
Chaos is just a concept that hasn't been understood well. For example: chaos brings the best memories. When was the last time you remember something that went according to plan? It's not that much of a lasting memory. But don't you remember that time you got lost on the way home, and had to figure out the right way yourself? Now THATS a memory. And that's something that you will remember and even utilize every time you step out of your house.
Absence of chaos can also be related to one not getting out of his/her comfort zone.There is a
saying- The best things happened when you step out of your comfort
zone and that is a perfect example of chaos; Stepping out of your
comfort zone is a way of courting chaos. You have no idea and no
control over what might happen, because you've never done this
before. That seems a scary proposition. Most people would shy away
from such circumstances. But the truth is that no matter what
happens, you are always going to grow as a person after that. It
might not be in the way that you'd expected, or the way that you'd
want, but the fact is that your life is going to be different in some
way; however subtle, however small.
So every time you
court chaos, you are in fact growing and changing. That chaotic event
is going to take you some place that you've never gone before. And
that is why it is a ladder. A ladder that makes you grow and take you
places.
However, some
people choose to stay away from it because of reasons like fear, or
their preconceived notions about what chaos is, and they cling to
whatever they know without giving much emphasis on exploration. Some
choose to not venture out into the unknown and stick to things they
know and like, and what that essentially means is that they are
stagnant. They are forever stuck in their so called ideal version of
reality and convince themselves to stay away from chaos. They cling
onto ideals like faith, pride, trust, ego and they choose not to
climb their ladder, only to later realize that they have not grown as
a person from life's experiences as much; how they are, in most ways,
the same person they were years ago. Sometimes you might realise that
you don't even require faith; sometimes you might find that you are
strong even without something supporting you; sometimes, even from
fear, comes strength.
So, friends, leave your
inhibitions. Climb the ladder. Something great will come of it.
--Co-authored by Vikram Thyagarajan
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