Sometimes, you do not write your story, it writes you. You don’t choose your story, it chooses you. But would you believe it if someone told you “This is not your story”? Would you have the courage to rewrite it?
I just finished reading the book “This is Not Your Story” by Savi Sharma for the second time. I still remember my opinion of the book when I read for the first time – ‘It is a good book. It is nice how the author managed to write a story in an interesting way with the plots revolving around 4 characters, everyone having their own hidden stories and yet, when they come together, they live same episodes encouraging others to write their own stories’. When I started it reading for the second time after several years, I can only recall bits and pieces of the book here and there. And yet, this time, I can’t help myself from relating my experiences with the experiences of the characters Miraya and Shourya.
Is life a game of yes, or no? I wonder about the absolutes that we try to create for ourselves, our relationships, our life choices. We try to make things black and white when sometimes it is much grey.
At this point in life, I can totally relate myself with Shourya. The way he describes how he is chained to the bench holding back his dreams even when all he has to do is take that leap of faith and get on to the train moving towards a new direction. I do have multiple dreams. I want to experience a lot of things. But I am not sure of what is stopping me from taking that leap of faith. Is it my fear of disappointing my parents? Is it my fear of failure? Is it my lack of clarity on certain things? Or is it the confusion of which choice I want to make? What is holding me back from moving towards the direction of new experiences?
You have to have faith in yourself, confidence in who you are and want to be, and be brave enough to take the steps towards achieving your dream. There are opportunities that come and go, like the trains on this very track. You can climb on any train and it will take you down a new path.
We underestimate how some bad experiences we face in life will have an impact on the choices we make for the rest of our lives. Miraya’s experience with love is what I related from her story. It hurts to see when someone whom we loved and who loved us slowly moves away from our lives leaving us with questions that don’t have answers and leave us with guilt. It is really hard to move past that experience and allow another person close to us. I lost my chance with a few people even when I like them because of one bad experience. I have long moved from that pain, but the scars I had keep reminding me that what if the same repeats? Will I be able to pick myself up again? Will I become normal ever again? Will I be able to accept and handle that pain, once again? Will giving love, a second chance help me to write that next chapter in my story?
It would be a sin not to remember the things that make you (us) happy.
I guess, at the moment, the life is writing my story while I am trying to find the courage and strength to take that pen from life and start writing my story as I live it. Will I ever find that courage within me? My life isn’t a book, so only time can unravel the answer to it.
Life is forgiving. Every experience, failed or successful, is never wasted. All the time spent does work towards a final goal, some known and some newly discovered on the journey. You have to have faith in yourself, confidence in who you are and want to be, and be brave enough to take the steps towards achieving your dream.
By the way, I also found a nice proposal line in the book. “This is my story and I want to write the best one. But I cannot write it without you. You know why? Because I love you …!!” If the person you love is a book lover like me, definitely use this line for him/her. It might sound cheesy, but it’ll definitely bring a smile on the person’s face! 😊
With Gratitude,
Teja Sree Goli
