In life, as with Computers, Dare to Restart

We are all familiar with the not-so-rare situation when our computer goes berserk. Nothing behaves the way it should. All the programs either suddenly freeze in time or manage to shed the chains of slavery that tie them to their algorithms. Our brain generally perceives it with a tag-line: "fir hang ho gaya". And in these moments I profusely thank the person who has put that small button on the machine, the most powerful button in my opinion, even more powerful than the start button - the restart button.

As in computer so also in life, we are bestowed with the ability to restart (and if you wish to thank anyone for that then in this case you are not struggling against anonymity - just thank god). I have a special place in my heart for people who have dared to restart their lives - Amitabh Bachchan, Sourav Ganguly, Abraham Lincoln, Maharana Pratap, Napolean Bonaparte. These are all people who struggled to reach formidable heights in their lives, slipped from the peaks and then managed to start it all over again to reach similar or sometimes even greater heights.

Restarting your life is slightly less convenient than restarting your computer. Although, I should say many of the challenges still remain quite identical. Some challenges include the risk of losing your unsaved data, the risk that the computer may not start next time, the temptation that may be you should give it one more try before you choose to restart, a complete loss of faith in the abilities of the computer etc. etc. Similarly while restarting our life we get stuck on things such as: may be I will never be able to do it again; may be I should keep fighting the same battle before I step back to have a fresh look at it; what will happen to my reputation and image etc. etc.

Many of the opportunities are also quite identical. In most cases of restarting a computer what comes to our rescue is the data that we had managed to save, the data which forms the core of the computer machinery, similarly in life what helps us to restart is that which forms the core of us. If during our good days we are disciplined enough to adopt certain core values and principles that have guided us through our current succes then we have all the necessary tools to restart our lives.

The most important ability for first time strugglers is undoubtedly perseverance. The ability to keep going in the face of most crippling adversities. For restarters it is, what many like to call, resilience, some call it bouncing back. Both are fair descriptions of what it takes to restart our lives but not quite accurate. In addition to bouncing back and being resilient it might take some "gathering yourself". Computers do not live in societies and one computer's restarting is hardly of interest to other computers in the vicinity, humans, however, are bit more unfortunate than that. They have to carry the baggage of their past, of other people's opinions and scrutiny and this, more often than not, is the biggest blocker to restarting our lives.

Unless we are a superhuman we all shall, at one point or the other in our lives, confront a situation where things will not be as they have always been, where success can no longer be taken for granted, where the glorious past will be de-throned by a gloomy present and in this situation the ones who will come out victorious will be those who have the courage, the ability and even the humility to restart.

I have known many people from my schooldays and even college days who delivered the promise of a great future but unfortunately quite a few of them hit the slippery slope a bit too early in their lives and could not manage to start all over again.

The advise is not only for those who have tasted success followed by failure but also an appeal to those who have struggled so long and given up. They too have the ability to restart and they must.

So next time you hit a failure or see your much arduously created success wither away in front of you, let your brain perceive it with no more than a tag-line: "fir hang ho gaya" and hit the restart button.