Live today to die some other day

This is another beautiful story from my dad’s bag of stories which he always carries with him to make me understand the importance of certain basic things in life. He narrated this to me when I was a teenager and was tensed about petty things in life however, I can relate to this even more after growing up. I am sure all of us would be able to relate and learn the way of living life from it.

Once a man named Rakesh had borrowed certain amount of money from his neighbor Jagdish which he had promised to return it in a month. He borrowed money to start his business but unfortunately material he had procured wasn’t sold until then hence he was not able to arrange for the funds to pay back Jagdish on time.

In the middle of that cold December night, Rakesh was sweating with anxiety and stress that he won’t be able to return Jagdish’s money the next morning. He was walking in the hallway the entire night thinking what would he tell Jadish, what would be Jagdish’s reaction, would he understand, would he give him a few more days to arrange the money or would he defame him or hit him. After some time he started to ask himself would he be able to return Jagdish’s money ever, will he be able to stand his business or not. As the night turned darker the loop of self-doubting thoughts kept on becoming longer and longer. He was so worried that he could not sleep all night and that was bothering his family too. Seeing him lost in his anxious thoughts his wife Seema and his daughter Meeta decided to confront him so as to understand what was keeping him up all night. When confronted by Seema and Meeta, Rakesh initially was very embarrassed as he was not able to pay off his debt. But as he kept on telling them the truth he felt that his heart was at ease and peace, even though the problem was not solved yet.

After listening to him, Seema and Meeta came up with a plan. They decided to throw a brick at Jagdish’s window. The moment Jagdish heard the sound of the breaking window glass and windowpane he rushed out into the balcony. He found Seema and Meeta standing right in front of his house. Sleepy and angry Jagdish questioned them as to what’s wrong at this hour and why are they throwing bricks at his house? Meeta shouted from the street “we don’t have the money which dad had to pay you tomorrow; he will pay it after a month. After that very moment, Rakesh could sleep peacefully and Jagdish ended up being sleep deprived.

That day Rakesh, Seema and Meeta learned that it is better to face your fears and sleep peacefully. Staying anxious will lead to overthinking which would further lead to a vicious circle of self-doubt, stress and negative thoughts all building up in the head. Pain reduces once it’s shared and happiness increases once it’s shared! So vent out!  Live today to die some other day!