Broken Dreams

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

(Henry David Thoreau)

My mother in-law was quite a talented woman. She was admitted to Harvard’s woman college but decided not to go because her conservative mother didn’t want her to leave India. She studied psychology and could have been a good therapist, but she was discouraged easily. When the work load became too much and she didn’t get the needed encouragement of her husband to continue, she decided to become a stay-home mom instead. Yet, even after her two daughters left the house she never returned to work. She tried poetry and was quite good at it. She did publish a translation of a poetry book written in Urdu, but over the years even that passion in her died. She had lots of fun traveling with us before our children were born, but in later years even that thrill went away. 

You might as well ask why she was struggling. After all, she raised two daughters who made a career for themselves in the US. She also lived in the well-off part of Delhi and, though late in life, managed to travel to all the places she always aspired to go to. Apparently, it was a case of broken dreams! Deep down inside she knew she should have gone to Radcliffe. Deep  down inside she knew that she should have kept her job as a psychologist. She blamed her mum for not allowing her to go to the US. She blamed her husband for discouraging her when she needed a little encouragement to switch jobs. She never would never have admitted this to herself, but deep down inside she even blamed her two daughters for not allowing herself to have a life on her own.

Failure is ok, and success is a lot better. No matter what you do, go after your dreams. No matter what may have happened in the past, It is never to late to start over. Even later in life, had it not been for the blame game and the sadness over all the missed opportunities, my mother-in-law could have had so much fun and meaning with her poetry instead. GOD always opens a door to go after our dreams. Open yours here and now and dive enthusiastically in!