Friday 25 May 2012

The Pressure Cooker Mentality




Hey all, so I decided to write this one post, and then continue writing after coming back from a church camp, so that would have been three days without a post. But I couldn’t complete it, and so I am posting it only after camp ended. I will also post on what I learnt in that camp.Anyway, I was asked by a friend to do a “social commentary” on why people are under pressure to do what they aim to, instead of taking life ‘as it happens’. Deep stuff, but as Albert Einstein said, “If you cannot explain it simply, you have not understood the topic.” And one thing’s for sure, whether I plan it or not, I’m sure that I will handle this topic with God’s views in the picture, because I know for sure that God always has something to say for every situation. So my aims for this post (heck, every post!) are to keep it simple, and say what God says.
So, every human is filled with a desire to succeed (or at least his/her parents are!). Now what I believe is that every “institution” such as school, or college, or an office believes in success as well. So, the heads of these institutions force the people under them, citing the similar goal of “success”, to focus and work efficiently, and so, when the people work well, the institution also prospers. This is how things are normally meant to work.
However, when in 12th standard, I learnt a law in Chemistry saying “A machine can never be cent per cent efficient.” Then just think, if a machine which was built for work can’t really work all the time, then how can a human be expected to work beyond his capacity, and also be expected to do it perfectly? Seems a little weird to me…
Now, a student or employee is expected to perform infinite amounts of work, at the cost of his life, only in the hope of marks or money, which I don’t believe, are worth losing your soul for. Jesus said that there is no good obtained if you win the whole world and lose your soul! Then, why, at the cost of your social life and your health do you take no limits with your work, just for a little more money or marks? And imagine, even if you get that money or marks, do you really think it’ll make your life better so that you’ll never need anything? I think not!
I’m not saying, “Don’t succeed, you’ll lose your soul” here. What I am saying is that God has a plan for us. And it’s an awesome plan for sure, because God says in Jeremiah 29:11,
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
There’s a catch, however. God wants us to trust him, so if we’re going to worry about our life instead of trust in him FULLY, well, let’s just say it’ll be a flop. And if he had the plan for you, I’m sure that a God who doesn’t want us to worry is the same God who’d give us plans not to worry. Why am I talking about worry here? Because, that’s the pressure cooker mentality! Worry is what makes people vexed, put them under pressure and take their soul away. Our God is a God of peace, so when you go by His plans, there’s always peace!
So, what I say is, leave these plans of success to God, and focus on just living life well every day. He will make everything that you need come to pass. I feel that the pressure cooker mentality is something that can be TOTALLY avoided. And the solution is way too simple, just trust God! And he will bring it to pass.
There’s another thing: perfectionism. Highly overrated. Only few people expect themselves to be perfectionists, but everyone is expected to be perfect by others! Think upon this, and you’ll realise that this is a prime reason for student suicides! I used to feel real bad for some students, because they were expected to be perfect. Not just score-good-marks type of perfect, but blameless-beyond-compare perfect! And the day they took 8/10 instead of 10/10 in a tiny class test, they were mercilessly torn apart by their teacher’s and parents’ harsh words. Now I can’t blame teachers and parents (they wouldn’t blame themselves either, they’ll say “We’re steering our children towards perfection”, but they have authority and mean well, so we’ll forgive them, OK?) , so what I think we’d better do is just realise that no one can be perfect, that position was reserved for God. But God wants us to be like him, and what he means is that we still be happy with a 10/10, an 8/10 or even 0/10! So, what I’d say is aim for perfection, but don’t be bothered by anything that happens and displays your imperfection. Any criticism that you get, whether negative or positive, is for your good, and can be used for developing yourself.
So, the ‘pressure cooker’ mentality (driving yourself to a limit, where after that much pressure, you can do nothing else, but ‘explode’) is something that can actually be easily avoided. Instead of being overwhelmed by your tasks and terrors, remember that God has given you that task, and has also given you EVERYTHING YOU NEED to complete that very task. So, turn to God for strength, and he will readily offer it to you. Why does this ‘pressure cooker mentality’ occur? Because, as humans, we attempt to ‘take charge of our problem’, and instead, flunk and falter foolishly. God wants us to give that problem COMPLETELY over to him, and he will just tell you what to do. All you have to do is give the little that he does completely, and he will work wonders for you.
That’s my two cents on this topic, and worry in general. Hope I’ve at least been able to put up a satisfactory post, as I was given this idea from my friend! :)
And one more thing, my friend Manish has also started a blog, its http://whatevercanpopup.blogspot.in/. So please read it, he’s a very interesting person, and his blog also is bound to have the same allure of wackiness with a good dose of ‘readability’ (not sure if it’s a word, but hey! Spell Check didn’t highlight it!). I promise to update frequently as well, because ideas just keep coming from everywhere! So, see you till the next post!
If you want to read what I think of something, feel free to tell me on Facebook! And I’ll get to you at the earliest.

2 comments:

  1. Your topic was soo catchy that I starved myself to read your blog!(Lunch time!) Just joking...well..umm..I liked it. But let me frank..I expected much more. Am not really disappointed but I believe that you can write better. I was comforted when you said it was your two cents on this particular topic and i knew you could bring an idea out of idea. But I liked it..if you ever write on this topic again,I like it a bit deeper.Till then,keep up the good work! :)

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    1. thanks for the suggestions and compliments :) now, why i restrict myself from going deeper is because i really dont want these online posts to be too big...i had WAY TOO MANY ideas and i didn't want to overwhelm people with too much to say...i'm really sorry for not saying all i wanted to say, because one of those points which i couldn't put up could have been the one you would have wanted! I could go deeper if you wish, but not in a single post, because i didn't want it to be long...is that ok? And would you want me to put up another related post? Thanks again for the suggestion :)

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