28th December 2012, i went through a jaw-dropping experience after which I have had this unshakable belief that everything happens for the best.
over the years i have had many epiphanies but none of them have been as vivid and as life-altering as this one.
allow me to share what happened…
*just for context, I was in the last year of my college at that time.
the story
in the last week of 2012, i, along with 3 of my friends, decided to go on a weekend getaway to nainital. one of the friends from the group was confident about sorting our stay out at a hotel so we weren’t really worried about that part. i think she knew someone who knew someone.
anyway, excited and looking forward to chilling for a couple of days out of town, we boarded an early morning bus from new delhi on the 28th december.
it was a 7-8 hour journey and three quarters through the way, our friend shares there is some issue with the reservation and we won’t be able to stay at that hotel anymore.
we were a couple of hours away from nainital at that time with no idea where to stay!
we started brainstorming for other places to stay with an underlying disappointment at the back our of heads about losing out on such a great property. we had envisioned our stay at that hotel, we planned what we’d do there, how we’d spend our time, etc. we had “accepted” our stay there, and now all of a sudden, we had nowhere to stay…
we reached the bus station in nainital. we took a taxi and went to some touristy spots till we figured out our stay. i remember i had a blackberry phone at that time and thanks to EDGE/2G i was able to surf the net and look for some options to stay. i don’t exactly remember where we went and what we were doing once we reached nainital because i was primarily occupied with booking a place to stay. what I do remember is we did manage to shortlist a few places, made some phone calls, and finalized + booked one property in pangot (all while roaming around in a car)
booking a stay breathed new life into us. with new excitement and enthusiasm, we asked our driver to take us to this property.
we reached the property and OH MY GOD!!! It was beautiful.
it was a cosy 3 bedroom villa with a lawn and an outdoor fireplace overlooking the valley. We found this through google, there was no airbnb in india at the time.
sadly, I don’t remember the name of the place and I am not able to find it online right now 🙁 otherwise, I would’ve definitely added it to my list to visit again and shared with you.
anyway, we reached the property around 3 pm, i think. we took a quick round of the villa, dumped our bags, freshened up, and went straight to the lawn to soak some sun.
time went by while we were busy talking, drinking, listening to songs, taking pictures (i used to carry my DSLR everywhere that time. check out my photography page @pictures_mental)
soon enough the sun had set and we asked our help to light the fireplace and shifted our scene to that spot — continuing our activities there.
around 11 pm, I and my then-girlfriend decided to take a walk — the sky was as clear as it could get with countless stars shining bright in a pitch-black night. we walked for some time and then decided to just lie down on the lush green grass and star gaze.
we both were sharing how happy we were with the place and kind of glad that the hotel thing didn’t work out, because this definitely felt better.
it was at that moment that some of the key events of my life flashed in front of me. i was looking towards the sky but i was actually seeing a replay of all the “bad” stuff, all those times that didn’t work out well or how i’d imagined — the heartbreaks, the failures, etc. and i noticed what each of those life events were followed by —they were all followed by better times.
each heartbreak was followed by a better relationship. each down period was followed by a happy period.
taking the example of the trip itself, we had a downer when we heard the news about our hotel. we were upset about it not working out, we were worried where we would stay, but it was followed by us staying at a beautiful villa that wouldn’t have been possible had that hotel thing didn’t work out.
i realized that these bad, down, negative, ‘whatever you want to call it’ times were important to unfold the great times. they were the stepping stones to better times.
Sometimes things get a little worse before they get better.
the lesson
after having been through that experience, “everything happens for the best” was engraved in my soul, in my mind, my way of thinking, my way of viewing the world.
when one has so much evidence and sees a pattern for themself, it’s hard not to think that way — and that’s what happened with me.
bad, low times are inevitable. how you go through it determines the quality of your life.
pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
dalai lama
i realized deeply that all these “bad” times were important, they had to happen for me to enjoy the great times. i enjoyed the next high in life because of that previous low. had that previous low never happened, I wouldn’t be enjoying the next high.
Everything, each situation is connected. If you change even one thing, you’re changing your entire trajectory of life henceforth because we make decisions based on what happened, what we felt at that moment.
you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
steve jobs
now, this epiphany helps me stay calm during the storm. it reminds me that this too shall pass. this bad time is going to turn around and unfold great times.
even at times when i don’t know how it is going to get better (which is often), i have faith that it will get better in the end (because I saw the pattern for myself).
it has helped me trust the process/journey, trust the universe. it helps me keep the faith. it helps me have the right attitude in wrong times (read thinking right in the wrong times).
it taught me to look at the silver lining, always!
i unintentionally aligned my thoughts with positivity and faith which further manifested more such experiences in my life. (read how thinking is a self-fulfilling prophecy)
when we’re in a low situation in life, it can sometimes be hard to see the way out, to see how things will get better, but if you notice, we get through it eventually.
you have survived 100% of your bad days till now!
nothing is meant to last. tough times come and go, that’s the nature of life.
before I close, i invite you to take a look at your life events. examine your lows. notice what happened after that; did you experience highs later? feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below 🙂
power to you
x
