How fast and thorough we are to cut off everything in our lives when minor inconveniences occur.
Now, this may not be the same with everybody but coherently all of us have this issue. Whether it’s as simple as giving up carbs due to too large an inferiority complex or as major as giving up on your life when all goes wrong, we’re all victims to extremist ways or “extremism” (if we were to forget, for a moment, about the political meaning of this word). This concept can be positive in a way if we’re talking on the grounds of leaving a shitty person for your mental well-being, but again, this would have serious consequences.
So as far as it goes for extremism, it’s a spontaneous act of stupidity that can go either way. Either our mind plays with us, or our gut instinct does, and we take extreme, and quite major, decisions that change the course of our lives. One may argue that such spontaneity has worked well for people (read: successful millionaires) in the past; however, when we read on some BuzzFeed article that they dropped out of school or ran from home, we just see the headline. What we don’t care to know about is that the said person had a plan.
It’s emotionally exhausting to succumb to extremism; it takes a toll on you. You’ll either regret it your whole life or take it as the most genius idea you’ve ever had. And by God’s grace when the latter happens, you become an entitled jerk just to give people advice on pursuing similar paths, knowing that it is hella risky.
So, why do we make such extreme decisions?
Is it because we think its right for us?
Or do we think that society will consider us as less of a loser if we were to take big, “planned” steps?
That’s one large pill to swallow, much like your pride when you face a failure. Failure has to be given a more positive image by society. As of now, it seems like the worst thing that can ever happen to you and one is berated for making mistakes. But, that’s not it. It really isn’t. One should make mistakes. This is contradicting to making extreme ones, but once in a while not feeling up to the mark, or falling short on a task won’t be the end of the world. But, we don’t understand that. Rather we curl ourselves up in a sad little corner and target ourselves as a loser more than the rest of the world does.
Even regret can go to extremes. One has to get over their failures that quite frankly, nobody gives a shit about. Thinking that these failures can singlehandedly shatter one’s lives bothers one more than anything, more than the mistake itself. All in all, extremism isn’t for the faint-hearted but ironically, it’s practised by those particular species only. Which makes one think if they’re really faint-hearted or just hiding in the shadows of such a facade?
-Vanya Tandon, Amity International School Noida
I like this!