Choosing Direction Over Destination.

Samiksha  Verma

9th grade.

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Many in life have found ideas that change the way they think, they feel and the way they believe. I had one too, direction over destination.

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Most of you may already know what it means, but I’ll tell you anyway, it is shifting from destination to direction changes how you feel about failure. A missed promotion or a broken plan is no longer a total disaster. It is just a detour.

 It asks a new question: Are you still moving in the right direction? If yes, then you are not lost. You are just on a richer, more winding path than you planned.

This mindset brings a deep sense of peace. You stop waiting for your life to start. Your life is happening right now, in the way you treat people, the effort you put into your work, and the honesty you bring to your quiet moments.

The destination will take care of itself eventually, but the direction is yours to choose every single morning.

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How I found this idea? How did it change my life? 

When I was seven years old, my entire world was about one thing: learning to ride my shiny blue bicycle without training wheels. That bike was my destination. One day, my dad finally took the training wheels off. I gripped the handlebars so tight my knuckles turned white.

"Just pedal fast and look straight ahead," Dad said, holding the back of my seat.

He ran alongside me, then let go. For three glorious seconds, I was flying. Then, the handlebars wobbled. I panicked, jammed the brakes, and tipped over right into the prickly bushes at the edge of the driveway. My knee was scraped, and my pride was completely shattered.

I sat in the grass, crying angry tears. "I’m never riding this stupid bike again!" I yelled. "I'm just bad at it!"

My mum tried to help me too, both did, for three months straight, but no matter how hard we tried it never worked out!

Back then, I had two friends who were the best people I could’ve asked for, they told me to not worry about how I can manage to ride the bike, they told me worry about how I’m going to do it, what I’m willing to do for it.

So I did. Every day for three weeks I practiced with them, on how to ride it, every day they guided me, for second graders, we were an amazing team! And I tried and tried and tried until one day…

I did it!

I learnt it!

I made it! 

And I felt more happy than I ever could, it felt better than to give up on that bike.

That’s also when I realised it was never about the destination it was all about the direction.