Priyanka Rai
Executive Editor
Make Your Own Destiny

Have you heard the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp? What if, like Aladdin, you too had a magic lamp? And by rubbing it, a genie appeared and fulfilled all your wishes. If you wished to have the latest handset, he would bring it to you; the latest TV, it’d be yours; or even the question paper of that tough exam!!!

What a wonderful life it would be! No studying for hours for exams, cramming boring subjects; no more pestering over weekly tests; party time stretching from evening to late nights.
In this world full of restrictions and rules, all such desires if true, would definitely make you feel free and happy, wouldn’t they?

Day after day, we had our way in everything we did – be it in college, at home or with friends – slowly, we would be left with no challenges or aspirations, seeing as all our dreams would already be fulfilled. We may even start feeling dull and bored. Imagine having nothing to look forward to the next day and the so called freedom we had been running after, turning into an empty feeling.

Life is never rosy. Whether one is rich or poor, in America or Africa, the president of a country or an ordinary person; life poses its set of challenges to everyone. We have a choice of how to view these restrictions – either positively, or full of complaints. Its said that rules, restrictions, struggles are there to make us wiser and stronger. Now the question arises: how to be positive when faced with situations we do not like? The answer lies in the attitude we adopt and efforts we make to counter these situations.

For instance, Jackie Chan holds the Guinness World Record for most stunts by a living actor. He never got scared of attempting his own stunts despite being injured numerous times while attempting them. You’d be surprised to know that this superstar started life as a frail little child who flunked his first year in school. At the tender age of seven, his refugee parents from China thought the best thing would be to put him in an academy where he could develop his skills in music, drama, and martial arts.

Life turned out to be extremely tough and trying while in the academy. Chan was beaten for the smallest mistakes. Training was painful and exercises brutal,  stretching to almost 18 hours a day. The children had to perform headstands for hours on end. He had no respite and felt suffocated. For Chan, freedom could have meant running away from the academy and leading a life of ease. But he chose to brave it out.

As a result, during this most difficult, restrictive period of his life, he developed real strength, ability and patience. Thanks to his past training, Chan has a do or die attitude while performing stunts, which have wooed the audience and brought him international fame. And he never feels like giving up in spite of having injured almost every part of his body, including his skull. For Chan, every moment of danger is an adventure of life.

It is only natural for a lot of people to wish that they could do their own thing without people hassling them all the time or dream of the freedom they would enjoy if there were no rules. But isn’t that a shallow view of life? If you are passive, you will feel trapped and unhappy in even the freest of environments. But if you take an active approach and challenge your circumstances, you will be free, no matter how confining your situation may actually be.