A baby in the house…
The first question that would hit your mind on reading the title is what can a toddler teach you about life who has only learnt to breathe and cry to call someone so far? Well, something very important for anyone who has unfulfilled desires & ambitions… Want to find the secret key to success in life? Read on.
Being the youngest in my family, I had rarely interacted with kids till then. When I became a Mama (Maternal uncle) to a baby girl, I experienced the bliss of having a newborn all day at home for the first time. Everyone in the house was excited to play with her & make her smile all day. It’s a minor achievement when a crying baby starts smiling at you or shows some liking towards you & I was enjoying it all. In the first three months, I also consciously observed her reactions to know how certain behavior is imbibed in us and slowly started learning some good qualities from her too.
Gradually, I realized that understanding human nature was just a by-product. To my surprise, more than training her, I had a lot to learn from her. I saw how hard she tried to learn some activities which, for me, are now routine tasks I have mastered long back. Those innumerable attempts, consisting of daily practice despite failures, that too by such a small baby, it was all just unthinkable for me…
How she learnt...
She observed us all day and tried to be a part of us. She laughed when we laughed without knowing the reason; she tried hard to talk, made different voices from her mouth or blew air thinking that was how we learn to talk. A month later, I observed she wanted to flip on the bed & raise her head, which was practically impossible for a toddler. But she kept trying every day without getting disappointed or angry. On failing it, she would rather have a notorious smile on her face as if it was all a game she was playing.
That made me realize how easily we get frustrated when things do not work in our favor. Most of the adults and teens in my social circle are those are ambitious, confident, talented & enthusiastic initially yet impatient, and those who give up very soon… maybe in just one or two attempts. Two interviews and a friend of mine compromised with a lower-level profile leaving future chances of her dream job; five auditions and one quit trying to become an actor. We lose hope so easily just within a short period of starting to work on our wishes.
The Skeptic Adulthood Vs. The Optimistic Childhood:
We are mature enough to understand what we need and how to achieve it yet we leave things halfway. Perhaps the reason would be the failure experienced in the past and the analysis that our calculative mind does to predict the results.
As we grow old, we become more and more result-oriented and negative as we have tried and failed several times in life. That disappointment after giving it a wholehearted try becomes unbearable for us now. Soon our approach is to compromise with something which is sure to happen rather than give multiple attempts at something we actually want in life but is difficult to achieve, thinking, “I know it won’t happen, it's just too good to be true…”
But this toddler was new to the world, and she couldn’t predict the odds of failure, nor did she know what minimum capabilities are needed. All she knew was that if she kept trying to learn it, sooner or later she would succeed because we were acting as live examples for her (humans who can walk, talk, eat, and also sing so effortlessly). She understood that if someone could do this, even she could someday…
The realization:
Another amazing fact that I realized was just like her even I would have worked hard to train myself for the basics when I was a toddler and succeeded, which is why I can stand, run, eat, talk, sing, etc. today. That means even I would have strived for months to learn the basics & failed a hundred times for activities that I can do so easily today. All of us did. Perhaps we were those sperms that succeeded in reaching the eggs first, which was how we were born… Each one of us!
Unfortunately, we now calculate the benefits, practical possibilities, and success ratio before getting into something or even making our first attempt… Ironically, the experience and knowledge which should have helped us get through actually refrain us from succeeding or even trying things that we really want to.
Today, I look back & see how I started with writing film reviews on my social media handle as a hobby, which later shifted to a blog and now is my official website, www.shrinitbadiyani.com. That wish to share my thoughts & views with the world before I die has made me a bestselling author & a freelance writer professionally, having three fiction novels to my credit. To get well-equipped with the craft, I did study story & screenplay writing & hold a diploma from Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares, Mumbai. I am also certified in Professional Dubbing & V.O’s from RJ Noel Keymer’s Voice Academy.
Starting from ‘That Unique Power’, which is a spiritual fiction, to ‘The Pact of Love’ with a second chance of a college romance, and later ‘Lovenesia’ which is a contemporary romance based on the theme of a black moment changing lives for something positive, the journey has been wholesome. I also get opportunities to interact with & mentor young minds, be it through judging writing contests at intercollegiate events like NM Umang 2022 or taking Black book submission viva examinations of B-School students of Mumbai, where eight years back I was the candidate studying for an MBA degree myself. It has also been a privilege for me to contribute my thoughts on romance & life motivation in the form of articles to several news websites.
I can proudly call myself 'A writer with bad handwriting'. I had always been pointed out as the student with the worst handwriting during my school days, which was true. My parents were once told “Nobody would have the patience to read what he writes when he grows up”, which turned out to be untrue for me, being the stubborn kid who decided not to give up back then. And thanks to this toddler who once again reminded me of the only key to success that we all lose in the journey of growing up - PERSEVERANCE.
“You are a loser only when you accept your defeat and stop trying…”
– A quote from my book ‘That Unique Power‘