It is your journey after all

It is your journey now, I can come only this far, no further.

When a toddler goes to school for the first time, the parents prepare the child, dress him up, pack his bag, take him to school, make him sit in the class, put down his bag, talk to the teacher, spend some time but finally have to leave. The child cries initially but is pacified and made to understand that this is what school is all about. The child becomes a little big. Parents start leaving the child outside the classroom. In some years outside the school gate, then in a few years wish him goodbye at home since he can now go on his own. When he goes to college, the child now a young adult may have to leave home as higher education avenues may not be available in the same city where he lives and sometimes leave home to enjoy hostel life. After holding the child’s hand, leading the child, showing him the path to his onward journey, parents let them go. It is the parents who give the children wings and teach them to fly. Once they fly, the parents only pray that they fly in the right direction. Life is all about letting go.

But the point is, life is your own journey. Parents can only come with you till a point. Teachers can hold your hand upto a point, professors can guide upto a point, your boss can lead you upto a point, your colleagues can take you upto a point, your friends and family can be with you upto a point. Beyond that it is your journey. You have to take your own decisions, separate the right from the wrong, choose a course of action, and be responsible for it. The point is did you learn enough from your parents, teachers, professors, bosses when they were holding your hand, when they were guiding you, when they walked with you. I  think life is all about learning, being thankful to people who have lead you in different phases of your life and made you what you are today.

I often wonder how much we look back, introspect and find time to thank all those who have played a part in our onward journey and making us what we are today, in short have held our hand and then let us go. For most of us, life is too busy, running at a fast pace where we get little time to talk to ourselves. We are too busy in our jobs and routines, we are busy chatting on the cellphones, working on computers, communicating through e-mails, facebook, blogs, forgetting that there is a world inside us too. We need to catch up with our inside world. We need to join the present with our past, we need to connect with the people who have held our hand at various points of time. For all those who held your hand, made you walk through a difficult phase, gave you much learning and then let you go, I am sure you have a soft spot in your heart and mind. They let you go because they could come no further, it was your journey after all. But nothing stops you from going back to them and reconnecting with them. I can only suggest and go no further. It is your journey after all.