The Ordinary and Extraordinary Paradigm

“We are all born extraordinary. And then we become ordinary. (Unless we chose not to! )”

I know, some of you might not agree with this statement. You might think about all the difficult circumstances you were born into and wonder how that can be called extraordinary!

Well, imagine yourself being born. I know you don’t remember it. And so, I say- imagine that you are just born, crying, and opening your little eyes to the lights of the hospital room, trying to keep those restless and soulful eyes open and quietly gazing at your surroundings before falling asleep. Your mother takes you into her arms with such joy despite all the pain that she endured for your birth! She holds you close and feeds you so that you get the energy to build the next step in your life.

You were taken care of for the first few years until you could stand by yourself, walk by yourself, and talk by yourself. Those were your formative babyhood years, and you were so aspirational!

Each day you wanted to do something different, something better than the previous day, something more challenging. You were striving. You were chasing the newness of life. You found joy in accomplishing the smallest of actions. For you, those were big achievements- to make the first crawl, to take the first step, to utter those first words. Every act was a joyous moment not just for you but also for the people around you. And even when you faltered, you fell, stood up, and tried again. You never bothered about what the others said. You kept trying! You were an aspiring child!

While you relish the success of each of these stages, aptly termed “Growth”, people around you (we call them society) slowly start trying to mold you into what they want you to be. They start discouraging you from trying something you want to try. They put conditions on your ideas, aspirations, and actions. And you slowly succumb to it.

Yes, the “extraordinary you” eventually become ordinary. The ordinary, who is afraid of taking the next step because it is risky, the ordinary, who thinks that her ability is limited and that she can only do so much because of the circumstances, the ordinary, who cannot think beyond her scope or localities, the ordinary, who worries about not meeting societal expectations, the ordinary, who keeps blaming the lack of support in her life, the ordinary, who cannot make that extra effort and work a wee bit harder to chase her dreams, the ordinary, who cannot rise when she falls, the ordinary, who goes on to do what society wants her to do, the ordinary, who chooses the same path that everyone else has already trodden: the same rotten path of going to school, going to college, getting a job, getting married, having children, owning a house, owning a car, sending the kids to the best school and college and the endless list of “ordinary life”!

And this is how the extraordinary-born baby gets shaped up to become “the ordinary”. We keep believing that life of the ordinary is the best. If only, we continued our extraordinary spirits, we would be achieving what the ordinary cannot. We will attain what people might call “extraordinary”. Yet, in reality, a vast majority of the world’s population transforms from extraordinary to ordinary.

A tiny percentage though becomes extraordinary. Do you know how they do that? They choose to become extraordinary. They ignore what society wants them to be. They decide to be that striving baby who once wanted to grow every single day.

But choosing to become extraordinary is not easy. Yet that’s the first step: to realize that the rest is ordinary and that you were born to be exceptional. The next step is to identify those infant-like qualities of striving towards continuously nurturing the idea of success and striving towards it. Even when you fall, rise, just as you did when you were a child. Mind you, this is not going to be easy. The society around you doesn’t want you to keep falling and traveling through unknown paths. This ordinary society wants you to take the safe path and remain safe but ordinary all your life!

Nurture that child-like curiosity, be a constant learner, take risks and celebrate the smallest of successes. Growth is the only goal, you had as a child. Become a child to become extraordinary!

You were always meant to be extraordinary. Choose to be one.

Let this new year be that year when you work towards not becoming ordinary but rekindling the fire of the extraordinary spirit within you!

And I envision a world where being Extraordinary is ordinary!

Have an Extraordinary New year, 2023!

Universal Love and Abundance

Dr. CeeVee