It was one of the typical chilly days in January month of the year. I was in US with my family. We were just about at dinner time when suddenly there is a family decision (typically family decisions means decisions taken by my wife and 2 lovely daughters) to go out to the Indian store about 3 miles from our house. Well, i did not get enough time or opportunity to repel against this decision and unwillingly, my hands automatically moved towards my car keys.
As we went along the small and beautiful drive from our house to the Indian Store, we saw shopping complexes and street shops on both sides of the road. This was Bentonville, a small laid back town in Arkansas state of USA. This was one place where we found lot of peace and relaxation after coming here from the neck breaking pace of a city like Delhi. Going to the India store in Bentonville was a weekly routine and it took us 5 to 7 minutes to reach there.
As we entered the store and got hold of our grocery trolley, kids had their routine fight on who will push the trolley and who will pick the grocery items from the store. While all this was going on, i suddenly happen to locate one of my office colleagues who looks stressed and drained out. He is done with his grocery collection from the store and is about to leave when we see each other face to face. Looking at his unusually stressed face, i am obviously curious to know if things are fine at his end. I end my curiosity by asking him about his well being.
Not wasting any time, he says "No, things are not fine". I go on to inquire further and he discloses some seriously disturbing facts. His father has been detected with a rare cancer in the last stage and the chances of his survival are not beyond a few months. Well, that would be a shocker of a news for anyone, especially if it is a sudden discovery. He goes on to say that his mother is also not keeping well and that he might have to travel back to India with his family soon.
His family (wife and kid) had just joined him in US. We had met together as families just a few weeks back. They are a beautiful couple and have an adorable 3 year old daughter. Moving the entire family back to India withing few months of settling in US in itself is quite a challenging move. But, in any case, these things dwarf out in front of the challenging family situation that stands tall in front of him.
The emotional setback apart, there is another thing that concerns this colleague and friend of mine. And that is obviously, the financial angle to the entire situation. He has got to fight for his fathers survival as long as he can, and this fight does not require any emotional moves. This requires "lots" of money. Chemo treatment, special medicines, doctors and hospital expenses, injections, movement of families from one country to another, unsettling and settling houses in each country etc etc. Health Insurance covers have an upper limit which easily gets crossed in such tricky situations. Going back to India would also mean that his income also goes down. His mind is majorly occupied thinking of all options to arrange for finances from somewhere so that he can look after his family in this time of crisis and provide the best possible medical treatment to his father.
Though he never expressed his financial need directly to me (we are close as families, i still happen to be his supervisor in office), it was coming out very obvious from his body language. Financial stress can be equally painful and disturbing, if not more, when compared to emotional stress that a person faces at such a stage of his or her life.
This is it !! This is THE point in life where you start valuing your Freedom (Financial). This is where you can take out your trump card. This is the point where you realize that financial freedom can be such a blessing in your life. It did not take me more than a split second to assure him that he can forget about all his financial worries and should focus on being with his family in India in this time of need. Could i have said this to anyone 5 years back..NO !!
Talking anything about whether he took any financial help from me or not would be completely missing the point here. The gush of bliss and satisfaction that i got after seeing his assured face in itself was so rewarding. How could i do that ? Why couldn't anyone else give him the same assurance as i gave. Not that anyone else was not willing or did not want to. It is just that everyone is so involved in the never ending struggle of their own lives that there is hardly and time and money left to give to someone else. This is one of those incidents which further strengthened my goal of financial freedom and made me believe that i am on the right path. This made me believe that i must not stay in mediocrity and must continue to find my way to freedom. This was reason enough for me to go through whatever pain is needed to be financially free.
So many of us are so comfortable in the situation where we are today. We are earning enough (or so we feel). We fail to come out of the comfort zone and achieve something of true significance in our lives. Rat Race becomes a part of life and Financial Freedom a mere wish.
Wake up ladies and gentlemen, there is a way to move to the other side. There is a way to move From Rat Race to Financial Freedom. You would never know when you would need it. If not you, someone close to you definitely needs it and you owe it to them.
Cheers !!
Manoj Arora
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/RatRaceToFinancialFreedom
Twitter : @manoj_216
Blog : http://ratrace2freedom.blogspot.in/
As we went along the small and beautiful drive from our house to the Indian Store, we saw shopping complexes and street shops on both sides of the road. This was Bentonville, a small laid back town in Arkansas state of USA. This was one place where we found lot of peace and relaxation after coming here from the neck breaking pace of a city like Delhi. Going to the India store in Bentonville was a weekly routine and it took us 5 to 7 minutes to reach there.
As we entered the store and got hold of our grocery trolley, kids had their routine fight on who will push the trolley and who will pick the grocery items from the store. While all this was going on, i suddenly happen to locate one of my office colleagues who looks stressed and drained out. He is done with his grocery collection from the store and is about to leave when we see each other face to face. Looking at his unusually stressed face, i am obviously curious to know if things are fine at his end. I end my curiosity by asking him about his well being.
Not wasting any time, he says "No, things are not fine". I go on to inquire further and he discloses some seriously disturbing facts. His father has been detected with a rare cancer in the last stage and the chances of his survival are not beyond a few months. Well, that would be a shocker of a news for anyone, especially if it is a sudden discovery. He goes on to say that his mother is also not keeping well and that he might have to travel back to India with his family soon.
His family (wife and kid) had just joined him in US. We had met together as families just a few weeks back. They are a beautiful couple and have an adorable 3 year old daughter. Moving the entire family back to India withing few months of settling in US in itself is quite a challenging move. But, in any case, these things dwarf out in front of the challenging family situation that stands tall in front of him.
The emotional setback apart, there is another thing that concerns this colleague and friend of mine. And that is obviously, the financial angle to the entire situation. He has got to fight for his fathers survival as long as he can, and this fight does not require any emotional moves. This requires "lots" of money. Chemo treatment, special medicines, doctors and hospital expenses, injections, movement of families from one country to another, unsettling and settling houses in each country etc etc. Health Insurance covers have an upper limit which easily gets crossed in such tricky situations. Going back to India would also mean that his income also goes down. His mind is majorly occupied thinking of all options to arrange for finances from somewhere so that he can look after his family in this time of crisis and provide the best possible medical treatment to his father.
Though he never expressed his financial need directly to me (we are close as families, i still happen to be his supervisor in office), it was coming out very obvious from his body language. Financial stress can be equally painful and disturbing, if not more, when compared to emotional stress that a person faces at such a stage of his or her life.
This is it !! This is THE point in life where you start valuing your Freedom (Financial). This is where you can take out your trump card. This is the point where you realize that financial freedom can be such a blessing in your life. It did not take me more than a split second to assure him that he can forget about all his financial worries and should focus on being with his family in India in this time of need. Could i have said this to anyone 5 years back..NO !!
Talking anything about whether he took any financial help from me or not would be completely missing the point here. The gush of bliss and satisfaction that i got after seeing his assured face in itself was so rewarding. How could i do that ? Why couldn't anyone else give him the same assurance as i gave. Not that anyone else was not willing or did not want to. It is just that everyone is so involved in the never ending struggle of their own lives that there is hardly and time and money left to give to someone else. This is one of those incidents which further strengthened my goal of financial freedom and made me believe that i am on the right path. This made me believe that i must not stay in mediocrity and must continue to find my way to freedom. This was reason enough for me to go through whatever pain is needed to be financially free.
So many of us are so comfortable in the situation where we are today. We are earning enough (or so we feel). We fail to come out of the comfort zone and achieve something of true significance in our lives. Rat Race becomes a part of life and Financial Freedom a mere wish.
Wake up ladies and gentlemen, there is a way to move to the other side. There is a way to move From Rat Race to Financial Freedom. You would never know when you would need it. If not you, someone close to you definitely needs it and you owe it to them.
Cheers !!
Manoj Arora
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/RatRaceToFinancialFreedom
Twitter : @manoj_216
Blog : http://ratrace2freedom.blogspot.in/
No comments:
Post a Comment