Convenient Assumptions

Do you remember the Math lessons at school? I do... The teacher used to say "Assume that x=y and y=z+w..." At that time, I used to think why should I assume? I won't assume anything... only until when my Math teacher made me understand that I have to assume certain things to seek the answer and solve the riddle...

Being an obedient little child, I didn't argue much... solved the puzzles, and became really good at Math... But somewhere I always felt that how come Math being such an absolute thing, still have to rely on such arbitrary things called "assumptions"? And some day wearing my thinking "shades" (yeah, I don't have a thinking "cap" ;-) ), I found the answer to that question in real-life scenarios...

Well, howsoever realistic we all proclaim ourselves to be, each one of us is a great assumer, no exceptions...

photo credits: http://www.elainebaileyinternational.com/

It starts from the very beginning... A child assumes itself safe in proximity of the mother, irrespective of the degree of surrounding chaos... A common man leaves behind his hard-earned belongings in the house assuming that a 350 grams door-lock can protect it... All the citizens in a country assume that a leader is capable of running their country... etc.
Well, these are the few based on trust... I would not say that we get rid of these assumptions. Coz it would make us totally skeptic, take away the sense of security from us, and at the end, will freak us out... These are necessary assumptions...

At the same time, there are few which can create turmoil...

·       You call a friend, he/she doesn't pick up and doesn't call back... And this happens over and over again... You have two assumptions to choose from...

(A) The friend doesn't value your friendship.

(B) He/she is just really too busy that they can't respond.

·       You participated in a 100 meters race and gave your 200% percent, and came on second place with the margin of 1.09 seconds... You again have two options...

(A) Despite giving 200% efforts you failed, so there is no chance of winning that.

(B) Just a wild stupid idea, if your effort can go up to 100% to 200%, then it surely could go a few more % to cover up the 1.09 seconds difference.

·       Someone not so good with you, praises you for something, and you don't ever imagine that person to be praising you... You are again set to toss the coin...

(A) By all logical means, he/she could have never praised me. It was a sarcastic comment.

(B) Screw it if it sounds sarcastic, ignore the praise (or taunt) and be happy with yourself.

In all these scenarios, your brain gets to the dual...

Part (A) talks all logical and realistic things that any person would like to choose, and will be tempted to think himself/herself a rational decision-maker by choosing (A)s.
While those (B)s have altogether a different story to tell... They don't fool you by making you think illogically... Rather they make you aware that what you choose, although might not be totally logical or factual, but it is definitely a happier option... 
And after all, if both (A)s and (B)s are assumptions per se, why not go for a smarter one...

What say???

Call it "Stress" or "Responsibility"?

A not-so-peaceful night; a film of small small tasks to be done at work tomorrow rolling-over in my head; apparent insomnia to an otherwise-sleepyhead.... All these things make me aware of the so-called "stress" building up... And as usual awakens a thought to be written about...

First question that comes to my mind: How do you define stress?... Something which gets on your nerves... An adrenaline-filled state which should not be persistent, but somehow it is... Well, there can be many more definitions...

But the idea here is, do you really call every such situation - "stress" per se? What about something called "responsibility" or "ownership"? Now, most of the wise people would say that, "There is a thin line between stress and responsibility"... Agreed, totally... But is it always really about maintaining that thin line? Probably not...

photo credits: http://www.setster.com/

Fascinated by the science fiction and stuff, I would put the superheros as an example...
Let's say, as they show in most of these movies; the Earth is under attack by aliens and it is at the verge of losing its existence... What will happen if the superheros keep on weighing their "responsibility" and their "stress" levels before actually fighting the threats?

Let's forget about the superheros... If we talk about the real heros, our soldiers... What if they start taking the extra effort they put-in; or the extra stress they handle; or the lack of peace they face, as a favor to the nation? What if they deny to go an extra-mile, just for the sake of maintaining the thin line between "stress-responsibility"...

And I feel it's really not only about the soldiers or warriors... It is about many ordinary people in real-simple scenarios in every set-up... Somewhere or the other, few of them go an extra-mile, and absorb little more "stress", so that the entire system remains "stress-free"... They practically screw their theory of "stress-responsibility thin line" (or work-life balance), so that the system they are a part of, remains robust... To me it seems that, it is the ultimate balance of stress within a system which counts, rather than the balance of stress within an individual... Coz otherwise the system with all "stress-managed" individuals will itself be under stress, isn't it???