Say NO To Blockages

Submitted into Contest #99 in response to: End your story with somebody stepping out into the sunshine.... view prompt

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Happy Inspirational Fiction

Say NO to blockages

“Yes sir, I will mail you the details right away,” Mike told his Boss.

It was lockdown all over the world and Mike’s wife and son had gone to his In-Laws’ house. He was all alone in his big mansion dealing with the so-called ‘Work From Home.’

Mike, an extremely caring person who takes care of everyone. Tries to protect everyone. He has given his life to his family. He has endorsed himself in so much stress and work so that his family won’t struggle at all. He has taken good care of his work and projects so that his parents, his wife, and his children can have financial security. But doing all this, he has forgotten that he needs to also take care of himself. It should have been his priority, but unfortunately, it is not. He has never cared about himself. His ideology has always been that my family should be happy, and nothing else has ever mattered to him.

In this lockdown, he had to do everything by himself. From cooking food to washing clothes, everything was to be handled by him. The initial days of lockdown flew by, learning all these things. But the most tedious time was the mid-stage of lockdown. He now knew everything about the household chores, had tried everything from baking to dalgona coffee. Nothing was left and this was the time when he started getting bored. 

He was fed up with his everyday routine and schedule. Waking up late in the morning, preparing something for lunch, completing his assignments, surfing this or that on the internet, eat the leftover from lunch for dinner, wash the utensils, again start using the mobile till 3-4 am was now his daily routine and no doubt he had many other companions doing the same thing too. 

One day, after having his lunch when he took his mobile, suddenly a thought burst out. “ This is not done, this has to be stopped” came the inner voice. He sensed that there was something wrong. He was missing out on something. He was missing happiness. He was missing enjoyment. He was missing his life. Then suddenly a mail popped. ‘Join the webinar if you need the motivation, inspiration, and something new in your daily life,’ was written in the mail and a zoom link was provided.

Already there was nothing that Mike could do, so he thought of giving a try to this. Little did he knew that this webinar would change his life and would give him a new dimension. 

The next day, at 1 pm since he had no office work that day, he clicked on the link. “Jambo everyone. Good to see you all here. So this is an interactive session and kindly leave the session if you don’t dare to keep your mic and video on.” Mike was confused hearing this. Should I do this or not? “You have to do this Mike,” an inner voice came scrabbling all his dilemma.

The host of the session named Alex continued, “So now, as you all have chosen to stay here and attend the session, the first thing I want to know is, from where did you found about this webinar. C’mon be quick err’body. Reply on chat.

“Okay, so most of you got to know about this through the mail. Whatever be the source, I am grateful that I have such a huge mass before me who wants to change the way of their living and wants some sort of motivation in life. A huge round of applause for all of us guys. C’mon everyone. Don’t be bland.

“So let’s start. The first thing you all have to know is that unless and until you have your goals firm and decisions solid, you can’t achieve anything. So one by one, I would call everyone and you guys have to tell me the reason you all are here. So let’s get started. Umm… who would come first.”

“Can I?” came a reply.

“Bravo! C’mon Linda.”

“I was bored of this lockdown and had nothing to do, so I thought of joining this webinar and pass my time,” Linda said laughingly.

“That was a good shot. Next… Mike, is it?”

“Yes,” replied Mike anxiously.

“So Mike, tell us the reason you are here.”

“Ahh…actually…Umm…” and he kept mum. Mike couldn’t utter a word and kept blabbering.

“Alright, nothing to worry Mike. Just be there and listen carefully to what I am trying to tell you all. So guys, now we all have seen how Mike was struggling to talk about anything. What do you think must be the reason behind it. Reply in the chatbox.”

There were varied replies, some said he was just acting, some thought he was nervous, some believed that he lacked confidence, and so on.

“Okay, so you all have given so many replies and most of you think that Mike lacks confidence and so was unable to say anything. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like that. You all have the confidence, strength to talk before millions of people but the thing that is stopping you is yourself. It’s your mindset that brings blockages in your path, that stops you from going. So is there any way to keep going without having any obstacle?

“The answer is yes. But for that, you need to understand what is stopping you. What is the reason that you were not able to do the particular thing till now? There can be varied reasons for it. Your responsibilities might be stopping you,your laziness might be stopping you, your family might be stopping you. There can be any reason. And once you find out the reason, it’s time to find out the ways to destroy that obstacle. Take a minute and write your goal on the top of a page, write the obstacle in your path.”

Inspired by Alex’s words, Mike took out a page and wrote the goal ‘Self-improvement,’ then he began thinking about the obstacle and he found out that it was his too many responsibilities that were binding him.

“Okay, so I think you all have done this. Now, look at the obstacle carefully. The thing you will find out is that all the impediments are concerned with you – your responsibilities, your family, your distractions, your… and the list goes on. So the conclusion drawn out from this is that it’s nothing but you who is stopping you. And trust me when I say this that unless you don’t change your outlook towards any situation, nothing is going to change. Motivation can only guide you but it’s again you who will do it. Think of it. Think that isn’t your growth your responsibility.

“It is your life and I truly understand that you have your family to look up to, I too have it. But I simply don’t give myself the excuse that because I have my family’s responsibilities upon me, I can’t spare time for myself. And if you are doing it, then, believe me, you are betraying yourself. It’s only one life that you have and if you waste it doing something that you don’t truly enjoy, if you waste it living someone else’s life, you can never give justice to your life then. So stop betraying yourself and start enjoying your life and your company. Today itself, make a promise to yourself that ‘I won’t lie to me anymore and would consider it a point to provide some time to myself too.’ With this, I end up this session and I just hope that this has made some change in you because this was the only reason I decided to conduct this session. Ciao Everyone! And yes don’t forget to love yourself.”

Though the session had ended, its impact didn’t. Mike couldn’t stop thinking about Alex’s lessons. While sleeping the page with Goal-‘Self-improvement’ written upon it kept revolving before him.

The next day, all of a sudden, Mike woke up at 6 am. He didn’t felt sleepy anymore but was shocked to see how happy he was from inside. He got up, went out in the garden where he had never stepped since the day they came in this house. He sat there calmly for a while. This was not normal. Mike found that today he was enjoying being alive, felt no pressure. Everything seemed to be perfect. 

Maybe, this was what he needed and thus Mike stepped into the sunshine. His life had a new meaning now-‘Enjoy.’

June 24, 2021 08:02

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