3 Days 3 Quotes Challenge-Day 1
The 3 Days 3 Quotes challenges have been making the rounds in the blogosphere for a few weeks now. It is very interesting to read some of the insightful quotes some of you have shared.
I was tagged for the challenge by Anand of Blabberwockying. He needs no introduction at all, a favorite among all the bloggers and a very good friend to me. His blog is filled with amazing posts that surfeits pearls of wisdom, philosophy and spirituality. I am in awe of his knowledge in the Vedic’s and Hindu mythology! If you are not already a follower, I strongly recommend following his blog, it will certainly enchant you too!
As per the rules of the challenge, we are expected to post one or three quotes for three consecutive days and tag three different bloggers on all three days! Ok, then, here we go!
For the first day, I am choosing this quote by Helen Keller:
“Self-Pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world!”
I know I do not have to explain who Helen Keller is, we all know what an amazing accomplished woman she is and of the struggles she faced to earn that description!
As for the quote, I couldn’t agree more! Trust me, I am speaking from experience!
As most of you may already know, there was a time in my life when everything seemed to be heading in the exact opposite direction of where I wanted it to go! Although, I took a stand against it, the road back to the route I wanted to go was NOT AT ALL easy!
It was filled with questions that didn’t warrant answers, doubts that never ceased to exist and decisions that seemed almost impossible to take! In spite of it all, I was still able to fight, but I kept getting pulled down every time I thought of moving forward. I could blame no one but myself for that downfall. It was none other than myself who was responsible for the downfall! I kept thinking what it was that I did wrong that such adversity should befall me?
“Why me? I am a good person, I followed all the rules, I never did anything wrong, I was a good girl, then why me?”
Yes, these were the exact questions on my mind day in and day out! Without realizing it, I was wallowing in self-pity! I kept picking myself up and falling down because of this kind of self-pity, until one day I stumbled upon this quote and started reading more into it. I read a few articles on the topic and realized that I was just being plain stupid!
Yes, I am serious when I say that I was being stupid! Because all I was doing was thinking of how special I am as compared to the rest of the world and that I should be spared adversity based on that merit!
When we wallow in self-pity that is exactly what we are doing – we are whining and complaining about everything that went wrong and saying that we don’t deserve to experience it! That we are just too special to face any hardship!
Of course, no one deserves hardship, but everyone in the world has one or the other form of adversity in their lives. So why on earth should we be spared? Yes, it may seem difficult and almost impossible to bear, it may seem like there is no escape, but if you are able to do something about it and it has not yet killed you, then that means you are strong enough to take it!
Well, to cut to the chase, the point I am trying to make is that by allowing ourselves to wallow in self-pity we are underestimating our own strength! We are hindering our progress and allowing ourselves to fall every time we try to get up.
For a change, let’s try a different thought process. Let us accept what has happened and say that
“Fine! This has happened! Now what must I do to get back on the route I wanted? What options do I have?”
Maybe you have quite a few options, maybe you have none and you need to start from scratch. Whatever it may be, you have at the very least started. That in itself is something to be really proud of! Then why the pity?
Just like everything else, it is not going to be easy to stop pitying ourselves, for it is almost like a habit. But with practice in time, it is a habit we can change! Trust me, if I can do it you surely can! 😀
I will end this post now, but before I go, here are the three amazing bloggers who I am passing this torch onto:
Rashmi P. Menon
A Single Mother with an unbreakable passion to Live the Life! I am a Writer/Author by passion and an IT Project Manager by profession. I am also the voice of Artemis at In The Pantheon - a multi-author collaborative writing project. When not hunting as Artemis, I am busy querying agents and working on my multiple writing projects. Women Empowerment and Child Rights Advocate.
34 Comments
Vibrant
Reblogged this on blabberwockying! and commented:
I am not reblogging this post because Rashmi said such kind words about me(Thank you, Rashmi 😛 ) but rather because she has turned a simple quote post into a beautiful inspirational one. Now I am thinking why did I not write a bit with those quotations too. And what a beautiful point she presses upon along with Helen Keller quote–“acceptance.” Synchronicity has it that the last post(I mean before Tao Te Ching quote, of course!) I published on my blog was also about Acceptance. So our minds were getting sparked together, despite us being thousands of miles apart in the physical space. Thanks for inspiring us, Rahsmi 🙂
Love and light <3
Anand 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Thank you reblogging, Anand! Synchronicity indeed! Well like they say “Great minds think alike!” 😉
Vibrant
Hahaha, thanks 😀
Vibrant
I thought you will take them on X-mas holidays but you are so blogaholic 😀
I am constantly learning from you and I am thinking why I didn’t write on quotes like you did!
What a beautiful quote and your write-up on acceptance is so inspiring 🙂
I have shared this post on social media and my blog. Thank you 🙂
Love and light <3
Anand 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Blogoholic – yep that’s me! Couldn’t wait to get back to blogging after the 3 week hiatus for NaNoWriMo
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m glad you find my post inspirational 🙂
Vibrant
Yes, it’s inspirational and it will be a joy to see more of you around. I am planning to do a team participation in one of the Blogging 101 course. That is some of us(6-7 is enough) participating just to help budding bloggers and if we can give half an hour to 1 hour everyday then the environment will become much better. Something based on my experience this time and I shared it on Alumni. We can discuss it later 🙂
Love and light <3
Anand 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Sure! Count me in! We can discuss further whenever you are ready 🙂
Vibrant
Yes, sure and we will also work on awards. Are you ready to discuss about awards now? I mean you will have to work on logos and you might like to enjoy holidays first 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
I can work on the logos in the weekend, but I may be able to share them only after the holidays if that’s ok. I’m not sure how long I will have access to the internet
Vibrant
Alright that is not a problem. Let’s start the discussion. I have kept it pending for long because we were all busy. 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Yes, let’s definitely start. Why don’t you put up a post on the Alumni and we can get going from there?
Chris Dequita
Thank you so much dear😊😊😊 It is challenging hmmm…😊😊😊 And who would have not known Anand? @blabberwockying😊😊😊 such a nice person😊
MindandLifeMatters
Your welcome! I’m sure you will come up with a beautiful quote for us! 🙂
Nena
You are so right! It can be hard to hear it and tell ourselves that at first, but facing the truth is part of starting the healing process. Great quote!
MindandLifeMatters
Absolutely! We feel like martyrs when we self pity which is why it is so addictive and difficult to get rid off, but once we start accepting what has happened then we start the healing process!
Dr Meg Sorick
Wow, amazing! I just read Anand’s post and then this one! Talk about synchronicity! You guys are both awesome!
MindandLifeMatters
Great minds think alike! 😛
Synchronicity indeed….!
tmcasciano
This is a great post. It’s so easy for us to become self centered. I believe that when we endure struggles it strengthens our faith makes us a better person.
MindandLifeMatters
Thank you! I agree….endurance will test our faith and help us become better people!
Nicodemas
Truly wonderful!
MindandLifeMatters
Thank you!
ordinarilyextraordinarymom
I love this. I find myself falling into a rut sometimes, especially when I feel as though I have worked hard to get something accomplished only to have my hard work destroyed by one of llife’s random catasrophes. Thanks for the reminder that we must pick ourselves up and keep moving!
MindandLifeMatters
Your welcome! Glad you find the post inspiring 🙂
Indira
I loved the quote and your post. It’s very true. I’ve some friends and relative they suffer from self pity and don’t want to come out of it. At one point people fall in love with self sympathy.
MindandLifeMatters
It’s true that kind of feeling can be very addictive and hard to break out of.
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NJ
A wonderful quote but I loved the way you elaborated it 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Thank you my dear! 🙂
NJ
🙂 pleasure is all mine dear 🙂
Vikram Bishla
sometimes it happens to me that i read something but i do not get attracted to that because the word selection was not proper or i was not interested.
may be this time also i would have skipped this after a formal read but you put it so beautifully that i was bound to think about it.
you linked it to your personal experience that was quite inspirational and helped to understand the meaning of quote in a proper way 🙂
and i do also have same experience that i do intend to share in a blog post.
thanks for sharing 🙂
MindandLifeMatters
Thank you Vikram! I’m glad you find this inspirational.
I look forward to reading your post about your experience 🙂
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