Your boss tells you about how much you have failed to meet his expectations from you. You almost sulk thinking how hard you worked for this job. You secretly reminisce of all the day dreams you had of being recognized and rewarded for the great effort you invested. You think of how proud your loved ones would be if you had succeeded. It brings tears to your eyes. A rough day at work – I guess it’s a lot more than just that !

Gone are the days of the slow and steady winning in the race of life. In the difficult, schedule bound lives we lead today, we all run – endlessly, tirelessly, monotonously, yet dreaming of all positive possibilities. Clandestinely, in this make believe world, we often become the hunted from the hunter. We are so used to making other believe as truth what we see as a possibility, that we forget that the “truth” may not indeed be fact. Then, to overcome the fear of your proclamations being proven false, we run to make our possibilities a reality. The less fortunate ones fail, and all their castles come crashing down. Reality scares us. Failure is our biggest fear.

Out of illusions, we create plans. The less smart ones fail to conduct a comprehensive failure mode effect analysis, or worse, do so incorrectly. Then when something goes wrong, their entire lives seem to fall flat. Then we blame destiny, or ourselves, or our colleagues, or friends .. The list is endless.

Why do we never rest? How is it that our parents could afford to give us better lives than what we can provide to our generations? How is it that in spite of running endlessly, we see no end to our plight? How far will we run? What is destiny expecting from us? Are we really growing older and weaker or do we just need a break? How far will we go? How long will we run?

We all ask ourselves these questions. As much as we deny it, the facts remain – yes we are growing older. Yes we are getting tired. Yes we are not sure how long we can continue this way. Yes we need a break from this life. Next question we think of is if taken, how long would the break last or how much it will cost us in currency.

If our parents thought this much about money vis-à-vis quality of life, we would never have grown to be as “talented” individuals as we have grown to be. We are intelligent, hard working, faithful, dedicated, sharp, and competitive. The question is – while we strive to add value to our departments , companies, processes and ourselves; do we also add value to the lives of people around us - Colleagues, family and friends(if you still have some left).

We all have busy schedules. Not all of us can associate ourselves with NGO’s and do active social work. Yet, can we all treat our family with one day in a month which we devote the entire twenty four hours only to them. Can we call our friends more than just on their Birthdays to tell them we are still around and care for them? Can we help our colleagues in managing their time better instead of waiting for the judgment day where they shall pay for the sins they committed against us?

Let’s take a fresh look at our lives. If we spend quality time with our loved ones, we become happier people. We smile more often, we eat in time, we reduce our stress levels, we sometimes offer to help others. We work better, feel motivated and head towards a healthier, happier and more successful life.

When we fall sick and lie in bed with fever, while our bosses tell us how inappropriately timed the sick leave is and how much money the company is losing by us not being able to make it for work, it is the child in our house who prays to God for us to get well soon, and sometimes sheds a tear to see us so unwell and weak.

Our parents wish we got jobs with better lives, not with more money. They try to help us in whatever they can do – from taking care of our children while we spend those extra hours at work, to sometimes cooking breakfast so we won’t leave the house hungry.

Our friends miss the good days we spent with them in school and college, and wish good things would always happen to us. They are with us when we entangle ourselves in problems we don’t share with our family. They are partners in crime, and in innocence.

Our success is not always about the number of zeroes we have added on our paycheck, but sometimes about the number of times we managed to make it for our child’s sports day or singing competition. He/she may have to save two months worth of his pocket money to buy a single working day from your life, but the love he/she will bestow is worth a lifetime of our hard work.