The tale of two tulips with different destinies
The truth behind growth stolen from plants
It was one of those cozy weekend nights, rain drizzling behind the balcony door, me and my girlfriend sitting on a couch and enjoying a glass of red wine.
In the dim light of the living room, I noticed something interesting.
We had two tulips in a small vase on our couch table. One of them blossomed, its head open to the sky as if it wanted to devour all air on its way to reaching the clouds. The other one, withered and bent, its head on the table, twisted, like a defeated soldier. Both of them living off the same water in a small vase.
These tulips are a perfect metaphor for life. Growing up in the same family, same environment, and going to the same colleges doesn’t guarantee us anything. Like these two flowers, nurtured by the same water and ending up with very different destinies.
It is what we decide to take and act on from the nutrients of our environment, that determines whether we grow tall or wither.
The choice is ours. It has always been.
From time to time, we all fall prey to the victim mindset. It is easier to blame our failures or lack of trying on external factors out of our control.
Admitting that it is on us who we are today and who we want to become hurts. It hits our ego, exposes our flaws, and awakens the insecurities we have tried to bury.
It makes us deal with the pain of transformation.
Suddenly we are in the driver’s seat of our lives, which is scary if we believed we were mere passengers, powerless to change the direction.
Choose wisely.
It is easier to grow through pain than to wither with regret.
