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The Other Side of the Wall

Written by Aradhita Saraf (Weloquent)

A young woman inherited a beautiful garden from her grandmother. She loved gardening too and was very proud of her garden. One day, she saw a very beautiful plant in a catalog and wanted that for her garden. She ordered it and planted it at the base of the stonewall in her backyard. She took great care of the plant, which grew quickly and had beautiful green leaves on it.

Months passed, but not a single flower bloomed on the tree. Vexed, she almost wanted to cut the tree down. At such a time, her neighbor called and said, “Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers. You have no idea how much I enjoy looking at the blooms of the vine you have planted”.

Hearing this, the young girl rushes to the neighbor’s side of the wall and sees the most beautiful flower in bloom. All the care she took had paid off. Only the vine crept through the crevices because of which it did not flower on her side of the wall but did generously on the other side.

Moral

Just because you cannot see the good results of your efforts does not mean that it bore no fruit.

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Lately, it may seem like we’ve been working hard and endlessly - but in vain. We study for hours for exams, and yet don’t score well enough, we spend days taking care of an ailing member of the family, and yet they don’t recover quickly, we go on long diets and exercise daily, and yet we don’t achieve our fitness goals. Hence, I chose to include this story in today’s blog to motivate us to not give up irrespective of the outcome of our efforts. 

Before you lose hope, know that the fruits of our endeavors can come in the following forms and ways:-

Your Rewards will help Others

While we may not ace our exam after studying well, we will expand our knowledge base - which is a boon in itself. You never know when the information you gather will help you or the people around you.

For instance, after you learn about tendons and ligaments in your biology book, and the chapter isn’t tested in the final exam and you feel like a fool for having spent so much time studying it so well. 

However, five years later, your friend meets with an unfortunate accident while playing a sport, and injures his foot. You immediately gauge the symptoms he experiences- the swelling, the redness, the bouts of pain, and you are not only able to diagnose his condition as a ligament tear but are also able to take the precautionary steps to prevent it from worsening before he is taken to the hospital. 

Your Rewards are Invisible

On taking care of your ailing family member for weeks at end, and witnessing no physical improvement, you might begin to doubt yourself on whether you are taking the right measures and whether it is doing any good to them at all. 

While the physical symptoms might be taking longer to show up, your love for them, efforts to medicate them timely, stay up at night, and care for them are all making a much bigger mental impact than you can ever witness. They might not be able to express their gratitude for the same either, but their body and mind are all the more thankful for you - a gift you (unfortunately) might never perceive.

Your Reward Manifests itself in the Long Run

After 2 months of intermittent fasting, and exercising every day, and not experiencing much of a weight change in yourself, you are ready to go back to your normal routine of eating out, ordering in, and binge eating. Fair enough, a voice inside you might say - It’s all the same - whether you eat healthy or not!

I’d like to stop you here. Your disciplined lifestyle has definitely cleansed your internal system - which might not initially reflect externally. While you can’t visibly see your organ health and the inner workings of your system, you’ve unknowingly given your body a longer and more youthful life - a reward you will reap decades from today. Hence, now is not the time to give up!