MOTIVATION: Yet again, next year!
Shreya Kabir
This time last year, were you in a similar scenario? Books and newspapers piled up on one side and you, on the other side revising the same polity notes? Is this the same scene? If yes, then what probably has changed? You realize that all other things being the same, what has changed from last year to this year are your number of attempts. And this may make you count, one down, three more to go or may be just one more to go!
Periodic recalling like such might affect your zeal and confidence inch-by-inch. You might feel weak in your knees, remorseful about your lost attempt. This is the threshold where one stands on the double edged sword of, either to go ahead with the preparation or fall back on the other alternatives (which by the way will take some time to pay you back). But, when one decides to be courageous and perseveres such testing times, one decides to move ahead with his/her preparation till the exam gets cracked or the threshold is reached again! The important thing here to ponder is what keeps the aspirant going?
HOPE! The aspirants from last years, who saw no change in their ‘status’ (yet gain), still choose to embark the coming year with their ongoing preparation, have immense amount of hope. Hope is what that has been with them at the initiation of this journey and it is what they still hold. It is biggest asset that any aspirant can have. With hope in heart and determination in action, the UPSC rank doesn’t seem impossible. Hope is what motivates one to appear a second or a third time and convert that IRS (or no rank) to an IAS. Just google once and you can find a plethora of such stories of ‘hope’ in the IAS aspirants’ circle.
As much as one gets remorseful of the lost attempt, one remains hopeful for the coming attempt. One might succeed this time or one might not, but without being hopeful one loses the chance to witness the equally probable success. And this is the very importance of ‘hope’ and ‘being hopeful’ in an aspirant’s preparation span. Hope doesn’t then remain a merely theoretical fancy expression. It becomes the core of an aspirant’s motivation and the vigour to keep going. Thus, in the recipe for success in this mother of examinations, hope is the foremost and one of the most vital ingredients!
Having said all that, there can certainly be pitfalls of being utterly hopeful. You might regret a year later that, may be you could’ve switched to your alternative and been doing well by now rather than remaining ‘stuck’ with hope in your heart. But, that is the price of being hopeful. That is what the whole game is about. And, that is why it is the threshold of double-edged sword! Your amount of hope reflects how brave you are to keep walking into the dark tunnel with absolutely no clue about its end (given, that you are preparing with all your heart and might). It might be dangerous, one might say, but at the end it’s totally worth it.
So, as this year comes to an end with aspirants who refuse to lose hope, this post is dedicated especially to you! You all are nothing but the ‘epitome of hope’. Undoubtedly, you’ve went through the roughest of times in the past year/s, you might have also just almost touched your goal but missed it, still you choose to venture ahead with double your efforts. This kind of determination, courage and hope deserves a big appreciation in itself. You might still have the same ‘status’ by the end of this year too, but bringing this ‘hope’ from the theoretical realm into your lives is a matter of achievement. Because, not everyone has the courage to be hopeful!
This doesn’t make the aspirants who chose to opt out of this competitive exam any less. Not taking away the fact that, with each attempt this exam can suck out one’s patience, enthusiasm and motivation. One must be rational with one’s life’s decisions and so were you. But, the moment right now is to acknowledge and applaud the spirits of such aspirants who chose to be hopeful and appear yet again, despite knowing the ‘cost of being utterly hopeful’. Kudos to your strength and determination! And, to all the fresh aspirants, start this New Year with discipline in your studies and hope in your hearts!
(P.S. All hope and no action isn’t what is being talked here. It is assumed that a hopeful aspirant works relentlessly to clear this examination.)
