Until recently, I was a member of the entitlement culture. What’s that? Well, it usually goes by some variation of “I deserve this after __.” or “Is it too much to ask for__ ?” Yeah, you guessed right. It’s demanding special treatment in exchange for a bout of suffering. Like the time I expected to go viral after my divorce came through.
Do I see you nodding your head in agreement? You are not alone. Way too many of us feel this way, often without even being aware of it. It’s only human nature to be entitled, after all. But so is logical thinking, so listen up:
When something shitty happens, it’s irrational to demand compensation for it. For when life goes your way, it’s not always because you earned it. Yet, you have no trouble accepting this gift that you do not deserve any more than say, your friend or colleague.
Because you don't ask 'why me?' when things are good, you have no right to ask it when things suck. Of course, this pill's too bitter to swallow - God knows how much I struggle with it. Life's so unfair, isn't it? Click To TweetOh well. On some level, life’s unfair to all of us whenever it serves up random surprises and shocks. The best way to deal with the latter is to stop waiting for the universe or anyone else to fix it and try to do it yourself. And that’s how the magic will happen – or not. You’ll know for sure only if you put in the work instead of waiting for your luck to change.
Though the universe is random and capricious, it loves to reward those who refuse to submit to it and put up a fight. History is full of self-made people who worked on their dreams even in the midst of immense trauma and poverty. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are the stories of folks who ended up broke and sick soon after they took their privilege as their birthright. The lesson here is that the lesser you take your gifts for granted, the better you do in life. Stuff like being reckless and wishing on a star may work out in the movies, but it hardly ever happens in the real world.
Do you trust the universe or not? What made you realize that the universe is too unreliable to depend on? Let me know in the comments below.
Loved this post.
It has humor, truth of life which is bitter, expectations which sometimes are met and sometimes not.
I loved the line where everyone wishes to get everything with a wish on a star, though its not true.
Its true that you can only see the change when you put in effort or you be the change.
If your attitude remains the same regardless of what your bank account says, then it will be very difficult for the universe itself to give you a hard time.
Thanks. Glad you could relate to it :)