Erudite Roulette: Yes, you can do it - TM Arjun, Infosys Toastmasters

Can you do it? It’s not even a question.

(PS: for a personalized reading experience, replace “do it” with anything that you want to do, but are skeptical about doing.)

Yes, you can do it. But before that, let’s talk about why you cannot do it, or rather why you WOULD not do it.

Speaking with common sense, the only things you CANNOT do are the ones that NATURE would not allow you to do. For instance: lift an elephant with your bare hands, run on water without any contraption strapped to your legs, spend a weekend on the Moon, et cetera; except for the last one! I’m not sure what your monthly budget for vacationing is.

Other than that, if whatever you want to do is humanly possible, then you don’t need to be a Cambridge degree holder to understand and agree with me when I say, yes! You CAN do it. The sole obstacle that keeps you from doing it is the APPLESAUCE story you tell YOURSELF about why you SHOULD NOT do it.

Nobody has said it better than Sir Isaac Newton (or did Shaktimaan say it!?!) that with every action comes an inevitable series of consequences. Whatever it is that you want to do, will bring with it certain changes in your life, in the lives of those around you, perhaps even stir the whole nation (if you’re planning to unveil a big scam, that is!), and numerous other uncertain effects that are hiding behind the curtains of future. BUT one thing is for sure that you will not be the same person ever again. You would have gained more knowledge, imbibed more experience, passed THROUGH the fear of uncertainty, once you have done it.

And this law of nature is what frightens us the most. It’s not that we don’t have what it takes to do it, it’s not that we don’t possess the abilities to accomplish it. You bet you do, and you KNOW it! But what you DO NOT possess is the courage to accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

You want to go ahead and marry the girl you love; but she’s from another caste, and you worry what would happen if your parents don’t agree to it. You have a hilarious idea for your speech; you know you can kill it, but you worry that the audience may not laugh with it. You are writing an article for Erudite Roulette, you know can write a stellar piece for it, but you worry that it may not inspire the readers as much as it inspired you.

Actions have consequences, and it’s the fear of accepting those consequences in their true form, that stops you dead on your track to do it. We think stalling will make it better, procrastinating doing it will somehow magically make failure proof… like to hear a secret?

IT WON’T! You MUST take the leap of faith.

You’re free to make your choices, but you’re NEVER free to choose the consequences. THAT is something that Nature hasn’t given you freedom to do.

So, if you think it’s worth a shot, GO, GIVE it a shot. And take it from me, YES! YOU CAN DO IT.

Title given by: TM Tanuja