One
of the things that created a sensation through social media quite recently is
the Ice
Bucket Challenge, which involves dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to
promote awareness of the disease Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Just
when people across the globe were pouring tonnes of ice on their heads through
the ice bucket challenge, a bunch of youngsters in Hyderabad city came out with
an idea of Rice bucket challenge towards
feeding the needy.
Quiet Interesting! The trends of the modern world, in
creating a hype even around a social awareness campaign makes it interesting
and catches the public attention.This is the way,we can get the younger
generation interested in something. Traditional methods don’t seem to work.The
idea of challenge excites people. It triggers the adrenaline rush and people
perform to their maximum potential.There are so many popular TV shows, based on
the concept of challenging to do something extraordinary or daring to do
something weird.There is a thrill and sense of accomplishment, attached to
these type of events.
While
these type of externally stimulated challenges are interesting, these could
just be a fad and may not be long lasting. Whereas, if we need to bring about a
sustainable positive change we need to look into the possibility of stimulating
internal challenges.This is something all of us can do. Let us say we need to
discipline ourselves on certain areas, rather than holding on to it as just asa
wishful thinking we can convert it as a challenge we give to ourselves.These
type of internal challenges, when accomplished may not win the recognition or
appreciation of the world around us, but it will sure be a morale booster to
our own self esteem.
Challenges
are not the big resolutions that we make on a New Year eve. They are just small
targets we keep setting for ourselves day in and day out, and feel a sense of
pride when we accomplish it. It is these small accomplishments that make us
feel worthy of being able to achieve something bigger in life. Just for an
example, here is a typicallist of some of the challenges, I have given to
myself.
·
To wake up at 5.30am,
every morning no matter at what time I go to bed.
·
To go for a 45 minute walk
as a part of my fitness regime.
·
To reach my target weight
of 75kgs through exercise and diet plan.
·
To overcome my weakness of
poor handwriting and making it legible.
·
To write an “Inside Out”
article for PALMS PLUS every month.
If
I don’t accomplish any of these, nobody is going to question me, as to why I
have not done it, but I take it as a sense of personal integrity. When I fail
in any one of these, I fall before my own eyes. And it hurts.
I
believe that by integrating such type of internal challenges in our life, we
can make our life not only interesting, but also rewarding. The rewards are in
the form of developing a healthy life style and inculcating somegood habits
that would last a life time.
Here
is one challenge, I gave to myself quiet recently. I asked myself, why not I
share a quick review of the android apps I use on my mobile phone with my
WhatsAppcircle of friends. I felt that
it would be of use to many of my friends, who use an android phone. So, I
decided to write a brief note of some of the apps, that I found useful
andstarted sending it out as aWhatsApp message with a prefix “App of the day”,
for the next 31 days at a stretch. It was not a pre-planned idea. It started
just like that. No one asked me to do it. There was no compulsion. There was no
obligation. There were no rewards for doing it, neither anypunishments for not
doing it. It was just a thought in my mind and I decided to put this little
pressure on myself. The result of this challenge, I gave to myself is an
article in this issue titled“31 Useful Android Apps”.
When
we challenge ourselves on something or other, it not only makes us more
competent, but also helps us to become more confident.Challenge yourself and
enjoy the rewards of your own challenges!
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated Oct 2014