Tension Vs Responsibilities

Recently one of my colleagues asked me how we are always got on to the tension. I replied "what tension you have?" See when I was child, there were tension of studies, later the tension for job, after job getting married!! then the responsibility of the family, one after the other keeps coming. Life is full of tension.

That reminded me a conversation between me and my little cousin few years back. It was a festive occasion in our home. All elders were busy in preparing the varieties of food. I am as usual, though little elder had to get along the children who are mostly my cousins. My five year old cousin asked me “ Akka what do you want to become after you grow adult ?”. I said I will become engineer as it was sure for me then to become an engineer. I asked her back “ what you want to become?” It surprises anybody to hear that. She said “I want to become “ Amma (Mother).”

“Dear, now you should not say that, it gives a different meaning. You may become amma but you must say that you would become a teacher, doctor and some profession you want to live upon” I tried to make her understand. She did not agree but keep on saying “No, no I want to become mother.” She was too little to understand my technical words, she ignored whatever I told and ran to my mother saying “ I will ask Doddama (Aunt) what if I become mother after I am grown up.” This instance was made a comedy later to mock at her every time when we check what everybody wants to become after they grown up. We break into laughter whenever we speak of this.

We can understand that she had made a comparison between her mother and herself. She had made an observation that her mother supervises her studies and shows authority on her and everything in the house. She might even have observed other cousins and their mothers and everywhere it was same. “Amma looks to be happy and bossy kind. Its only we children who takes tensions of huge studies, homework, parent signature, exams, marks and so on.” So she analysed and thought it’s better to become Amma which is a tensionless profession and that position is respected and reputed a lot.

This case clarifies that such thinking can be done only by kids who are not aware of the life completely. If anybody thinks responsibilities makes tension, it only means that they need to work hard to gain experience. It is left to us to consider any task as either responsibility or tension. Elastic becomes flexible only after stress is applied.

In fact nothing gives us tension. It is we who take it as tension. Life is after all a series of continuous ups and downs. It is we who decides to be consistent with it. Let us not vary along the life. Having an attitude of being conscious of the fact that nothing worse can happen will make us strong. We should not let the life to control us, but we should control the life.

For a righteous, strong, non-greedy person nothing can be a tension. Live in the present. Take responsibilities as responsibilities, not as tension. Tension should not be the function of responsibility. Responsibilities should only make one matured, respectable and strong like a responsible Mother who is tensionless.

“ Tension is created when you expect and compare to others and relaxation is created when you accept and live along that.”