What are the thoughts that come to our mind when we see a waterfall? We admire the serenity and the calmness associated with the waterfall and its surroundings. It gives us a feeling of peace and tranquillity. We experience this inspite of the sound associated with the fast movement of the waterfall. This sound being loud still does not affect us in any way. We still feel very much at peace. Then how is it that we cannot implement this in our lives? Why can't we live our own lives at our own pace, instead of trying to match it up with the rest of the world?

Progress is important in life and also along with this, it is also important to have awareness about all the new advancements. This way, we ought to progress in life and keep pace with all the new happenings and advancements in the world. If we do so, then we are pretty much good to go and face the world. However, most people believe that accomplishing or even working on too many tasks in a short time would help them achieve success and make a position in their fields. And the only best way to achieve this is to start from a young age.

From here we see a revolutionised method of living life. All the joys of childhood are slowly swept away as young children are busy mastering several skills. By the time these young children grow up, they would have mastered all the skills of the world. Why does this take place? Either because they are genuinely interested in taking up those activities (this is mostly when we are either adolescents or adults) or because we see people around us, be it kids or adults accomplish so much.

The crowd in reference here is mostly referring to those people who have excellent lifestyles. They have everything it takes to make them fairly popular among certain masses. Their children too are multi-skilled and attend several extra-curricular activities.

All in all, they are perceived to be so perfect, that the others too want to be like them. Some are inspired whereas the others want to rise way more above them, so they can be the target of appreciation. The results are aligned more towards rewards and validation than self-identify and inner satisfaction.

Hence, from here comes another important factor- Perfection, the strive to be a perfectionist. Nowadays, people want to be able to do everything, regardless of whether they are actually capable of it or not. Aspiring to explore one's horizons is definitely a good habit and must be encouraged. However, one should also be confidently let go and accept anything that does not work out in their favour.

At times, it often happens that adults encounter people around them with several talents. They also see how these people are so much sought after in demand and highly appreciated for their personality or their skills and achievements. Hence, since they have already established their lives, they get their children into becoming perfectionists.

From the very tender age of 4 or 5, children are enrolled in several extra-curricular activities. Once they complete one activity, they are made to enroll in another activity. It also seems as the most convenient way to keep children busy and occupied. It seems hassle-free and convenient for sometime because children are young and switching from one extra-curricular activity to another appears very exciting and also provides a change from the regular monotonous day.

However, when these children start growing up and begin to develop their own interests, likes and dislikes, that is when slight conflicts begin. Children want to focus only on those activities which interest them since they now have to focus on their academic life as well. There are relatively few cases where children are encouraged to continue pursuing their interests alongside their academics and careers as they keep growing. In the majority of cases, from this point to till the point where they need to decide their career, several conflicts and disagreements arise. Children want to pursue a career in a field of their interest but many a time, parents get their children to choose a profession which they deem suitable for their children. These kinds of situations at times, present themselves as a hindrance or obstacle in the life of the child which was pretty much progressing smoothly until this point.

So now, instead of a smooth flow and progress in one direction, there are several deviations and turbulences. Waterfall isn't a waterfall anymore. It has got reduced to a water canal from which water flows out in several directions. There are several factors which are trying to block the mainstream flow of water, in a manner similar to how several obstacles, views and opinions of people, block the mainstream flow and focus of the child or any individual's channel of thoughts which are leading the individual to their final destination.

It isn't just the views and opinions of people. A part of the obstacles and distractions is the journey of the individual. Each individual is unique and so is their destination. During their journey, they may have accomplished several things while we as an individual may have had very less accomplishments or even none.

Well, What's the big deal? We all have different journeys to explore and travel. All our journeys are planned according to a specific purpose. Probably the purpose marked for that individual with several accomplishments was required for that individual to keep moving ahead in their journey. They might be required to tackle a few difficult situations ahead and maybe that is where their accomplishments might come in handy. It is a very obvious fact that there are no roses without thorns.

Living our own lives at our pace can reduce many complications. Life becomes much easier and more beautiful to enjoy and live. We will always feel motivated to achieve something since we won't be exhausted expending our energy and in dealing with unnecessary complications. The journey becomes much smoother and the progress would become efficient and rapid since we are only focussed on exploring and reaching our destination without letting the obstacles affect us negatively and distract us from our goals and purpose.

Ultimately, as we keep progressing, we will soon realise how beautiful our journey is. And just like the waterfall, our lives too will be moving and progressing towards the goal or destination. We shall be standing and admiring our life's journey with the same amount of admiration and peace with ourselves we have when we see a waterfall. 

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