How to Bring Back Ambition: Kriti Chopra
We all had dreams and ambitions while growing up. For some, it could be living in a huge house with a driveway full of luxury cars. Whereas, for some, it was changing the world and making it a better place.
As a young girl, I had dreams of becoming a famous astronaut. I was fascinated by how the solar system worked and how human beings were going to space. Every night my dad and I would spend countless hours on the rooftop of our house. With my small binoculars pushed against my eyes I would look at the stars and visualize my bright future as an astronaut.
I remember my daddy always telling me that if I wanted something with all my heart and worked extremely hard for it, I could achieve it. So, I grew up with that great ideology ….but somehow as I grew older I stopped believing in my dreams, I started to learn how to be comfortable with my life instead.
Being Indian, I did what most Indian kids do, I found myself a safe corporate job that paid a decent salary, went to school in the evening to get that degree and watched Netflix before bed.
This was nothing close to what I dreamt of doing with my life. So I always reassured myself by saying that “only the wealthy and lucky get what they want from life.” But in reality, it was an excuse which I fed myself to protect my overly grown pride and ego.
Looking back, I wondered what happened to my dreams and aspirations. Why did I not follow through on things I wholeheartedly wanted? The truth is, my fear of failure took over my ambitions.
I was too scared of failure that I never chose to take any action.
The bottom line is, I let my dream fade away and opted to abandon my dreams forever.
Now I wish I could say I am the only person that ever experienced this but, the fact is that many people face the same thing. They say goodbye to their dreams and settle for whatever life provides to them and not what they want from it.
However, for me, I hit a point where I no longer wanted just to settle. I realized that I could change how my life will play out at any point in time.
Following are the strategic ways I used to bring back my ambition and revitalize my dreams:
(1) Kiss Good Bye To Fear: Fear is one of the worst things that keeps us away from pursuing anything. The fear of failure, judgment, or lack of acceptance can cause us to stop even before we start. Most of us don’t realize this, but the fear of regret is way more painful than failure. Why not just go for it? The worst that can happen is that the answer will be NO.
(2) Goals with deadlines: Things only get done when there is a sense of urgency in life. For example, handing in school assignments, if we know that the assignment is due tomorrow morning we find a way to get a done: we may have five shots of espresso; a friend assists us with editing or another with research. We make it happen. Similarly, when our goals have a deadline to it we find creative ways to make it happen.
(3) Environment: The type of environment we surround ourselves is critical. Like the old saying goes “you are the average of your five close friends”. If your friends are people that do not motivate you or distract you from your goals in life, maybe it is to reconsider them.
(4) Cut out the bad: I remember when I tried to change my life around, I got a lot of weird and unwanted reactions. I told a good friend of mine that I no longer wanted to work a 9-5 cubicle job, she didn’t take too long to say “you’re ungrateful for what you have” and how “only a few get ahead in life.” This kind of rhetoric hurt me a lot at first, but after a while, I got comfortable with people saying that to me. Learning to use what the naysayers have to say to empower yourself can be influential. I use it to my advantage to prove them wrong when they say something can’t be done.
Now I didn’t turn out to be an astronaut ….but I have come to a realization that my dad was right. If I put focused attention on achieving something, and I follow through, I will get what I want from life.
Today I hold a provincial title as Miss Heart and Soul for the province of British Columbia. I strive to be a positive influence for youth to make the right life decisions carefully for themselves so they can live a life of abundance with health, wealth, love and happiness.
