The Easier Path

Recently I was going through the regular process of enduring a tiresome end semester exam. Well these are the only two weeks of the whole semester when we actually study our asses off and our level of satisfaction depends not on how well the exams were rather how many hours we put in to study for the subject. A very common practice is to judge the level of preparation is how many hours of sleep one had before the night of the exams. In fact it is a matter of pride if one doesn’t sleep at all (like really people what’s wrong with you).
So one night before the exams as I lay on my bed calculating my probability of passing the exams a thought struck upon my head. Why is the road to success always have to be a tough one ? From the cradle to the coffin we are taught that there is no way around a tough path if one wants success but we are never taught to question that norm (Well actually we aren’t ever taught to question more on that in some other blog post). Why is it that there is never an easier path to a goal ? We are just told that there is no easy way out. Why ? Why isn’t there an easier way out ?
So for the entirety of out lives we are forced to take the tough path to achieve any goal we want. I don’t say that the tough path doesn’t bring one success it surely does we have loads of examples who have got it the hard way, but why isn’t a goal that was achieved by a much simpler approach that was much easier not appreciated as much as the one where the person was pushed to the verge of his endurance limit just to achieve that goal. If someone finds a easy way out to a tough problem doesn’t it prove his mettle, his ingenuity (or her don’t come running with a bat your feminazis). Rather every time we have to hunt for the tough path cause well that guarantees success if not success it does guarantee an applause from the audience just for the attempt. If you had taken the easier road and failed the instantaneous feedback would have been that you didn’t take the right path. Why this discrimination ?
Somewhere being forced to take the tougher path frustrates us. It puts us in a phase where we fear to take any of the paths cause we have been programmed to take the tough path that we don’t even see the easier solution to an problem. We are hesitant to do things cause we are just too worn out already by our previous attempts and life demands that we can’t be worn out. Even the best of machines can wear out but we humans who are much more fragile than those metal pieces are expected to stay tough the whole of our life. This demands for a steady and tough mental state. And we can’t ever let our guards down cause then will come life charging down with swords and spears to tear us apart.
What I suggest is that we take some time out in our lives to contemplate about the easier paths as Robert Frost said he took the road less travelled he didn’t take the easier path he didn’t take the tougher path just the path not travelled much but by the looks of the current scenario he surely meant he dared to take the easier path. Taking the easier path has its own satisfaction. When one takes the easier path he breezes through the whole process he enjoys the whole process. You look forward to doing that every morning when you wake up and trust me waking up to do something you love that is a different feeling all together much better than the applauses for a failed tough path.
I would point out that this is not about taking a break in your life rather integrating the easier paths in to your life so that you don’t need to take those stress buster vacations. If one learns to take the easier paths one doesn’t rush in his or her life so in return one doesn’t need to take a halt to slow things down. Doesn’t it mean that we are improving the overall productivity of our lives. But I think we are far from taking that approach in our lives cause we still believe in looking at others to gauge our own success. We look at the number of hours that our friends put in to measure the level of preparation for an exam or an important project.
I will surely try to implement this approach and will put what difference did that make in my life. I don’t know if it will be a success ( yeah “success” ) or a failure but it surely would be something different to try out. I will document what changes it brought out in my life and I will try and be as unbiased as I can be cause I am sure I will surely enjoy myself a lot taking the easier paths. Hope this would provoke at least some of my readers to take a different approach in their lives. Cheers to the good life till then.