A Lesson From Wasted Opportunities

I was around ten years of age when my parents decided to enroll me in a boarding school that was located up in the hills, far from the city where we then lived. One reason for this might have been that this school offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including sculpture, carpentry, weaving, music, horse-riding and many different sports, which went along with the regular academic curriculum. My parents possibly thought that these activities would provide me a more holistic and well-rounded education than what I was getting in the school I was already at.

The fact, however, is that I took little or no interest at all in any of the numerous extra-curricular activities that were available in my new school. Now, this was around half a century ago, and so, I cannot fully account for why exactly this was so, though I do not doubt that diffidence, lack of interest and drive and, possibly, sheer laziness on my part, and improper care and guidance on the part of the concerned school staff, were likely major reasons. Be that as it may, the plain fact is that I did not excel in even a single of the extra-curricular activities that were on offer. And, in those activities that I did participate (perhaps because I was forced to and not because I was keen on doing so), my performance was lackluster, to put it mildly.

When I look back now, I see my lack of interest in the many extra-curricular activities that I could easily have availed of at that time as a case of wasted opportunities. I can’t help but think that had I enthusiastically pursued one or more of the many extra-curricular activities that were available to me then, I might today have regarded myself as a considerably more fulfilled, skilled, capable and accomplished person. Suppose, for instance, I had learnt to play one of the many musical instruments that students in the school could learn and went on to excel in it, it might have added great value to my own life, as well as that of others. The same could be said of several of the other extra-curricular activities that were available in the school.  

Every now and then as we go through life, opportunities for our further development come our way. It is for us to recognize them and avail of them in the way we best can if we care for our own growth. If, however, we choose to turn them down and let them pass by, as I did, we only stunt ourselves. We deny ourselves the chances to further grow which the opportunities that come our way offer us. We become a major barrier to our own evolution. And for that, we have no one to blame but ourselves.