I am thinking of Mr. L K Advani … And wondering what he is upto. The reason is he didn’t take his diminishing importance very well. He couldn’t see the writing on the wall and still harboured the wish to be the PM – but in his chosen field, the voter voted for Mr. Modi. Then I think of Mrs. Sonia Rajiv and wonder what she is upto – again, how is she dealing with her diminished importance ? It’s tough, to be Queen bee one day and suddenly have the worker bees shift allegiance to another Queen the next day. Well King, not Queen – the important thing to ponder over is the loss of importance.
All of us become irrelevant and less important some day … It’s just the right thing because if the same people remain important then how will the new arrive ? The mother has to become less important as the baby arrives – she needs to take the backseat and nourish, protect and provide for the newborn, but the star is the baby :). The older sibling has to deal with it too – some embrace the baby sister/brother … While some resist and throw tantrums to remain the centre of attraction. But the importance to the baby doesn’t diminish.. The love is equal but the importance is for the new star.
The tinsel world is cruel in discarding fading stars. The one who succeeds at the box office is the one who matters – how great an actor you are, how great a human being you are pale in front of the box office collections. Late Rajesh Khanna the superstar of Hindi cinema had to make way for Amitabh Bachchan who had to make way for Shah Rukh Khan – we can continue to have personal favorites but the tinsel town has moved and they pay homage to the “new” super star !
At the workplace too there are times when you genuinely don’t matter. It could be that you are leaving an organization or it could be that you are just starting in a new place, or it could be that you are changing teams, moving over to a different role, or it could be that someone is making you redundant. If your team member is making you redundant, that’s a good thing, hopefully everyone is working on becoming redundant in their roles, so they can move up and others can fill their place.
I am talking also of the other times when you aren’t redundant by design but by chance or circumstance. It feels terrible, just as Rajesh Khanna moped over his fading stardom or Mr. Advani moped over his fading chances at political glory.
How you deal with lessening importance depends solely on how you value yourself. If you are someone with a low self esteem and low confidence, this situation will break you up completely. So fortify yourself. Understand that you don’t matter in the new context, in the new business scenario, in the new world order… But you do matter to the Universe otherwise the world would have been rid of you long back. All those that are alive have a purpose and a place on Earth and that’s why they are here. That’s the truth but when in your tiny sub-universe called your workplace, your family, your party or your movie, you suddenly feel unimportant it is tough to deal with.
A beautiful quote from my beloved master Osho is what you should meditate on if you feel you are becoming less important or your self-esteem is taking a beating –
So wake up, get dressed and go out and deliver your unique message, just the fact that you are alive means you MATTER !