The Eureka Moment - 2

The safety pin was invented while Walter Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a fifteen dollar debt. He later sold his patent rights to the safety pin for four hundred dollars to the man that he owed the money to.

The Barbie doll was born when Ruth Handler, a founder of Mattel, was on vacation in Switzerland and saw an unusual doll in the window of a cigarette shop. Because Handler didn't speak German, she didn't realize that the doll was a sex symbol sold mainly to men. Instead she saw a prototype for a new toy for girls.

Eureka moments feel like flashes of insight. Long walks or hot showers or fiddling with a pen may be where we think a life changing idea would strike us. Many of the innovative, creative people had accidentally come up with the inventions, below the threshold of the conscious mind that we now admire as the work of a genius.

In today's modern world, we still love to hear stories of sudden inspiration. The same guy, who invented the safety pin, later invented the sewing machine. Who had thought that sewing can be done with the hole on the wrong end of the needle? But he did. And it was a Eureka moment for him.

My Eureka moment came - when I found myself.

When we are young, we are generally not ourselves. What we eat, what we do, how we dress, where we go etc. is usually decided by our elders, something we call, an acquired personality. But as we grow up, we start realizing that we never actually did anything by choice. We were just living off others' expectations. That's when the journey to find ourselves starts. We start wearing what we like, eating what we please, stating our opinions and choosing our own friends.

I used to be the kind of kid every parent dreams of. Always hanging out with other smart kids, topping my exams and competitions, joining dance class, swimming class, music class, badminton coaching and what not, eating only the greens, always touching feet while greeting the elders etc. That time, it felt great to be always appreciated, to be the topic of discussion among ladies, to be the TAMED ANIMAL that I was. I am not saying that it was a bad thing. It was just not MY thing. I realized that I was just a person that others wanted me to be. And I was happy too. Because I was meeting their expectations just fine.

But time demands change. And it became more demanding when nerds like me went 'out of fashion'. Gullible as I was, being a teenager, the hormones turned my life around. I invested all my time in singing, being creative, solving crosswords, reading books(not related to syllabus), listening to music, partying, shopping, feeding on fame, and the best part is, people liked me even then, because they thought how 'cool' I was.

But then my grades started falling, I was lying more that often, I had become so thin that I could reuse my discarded clothes and I wondered where did I go wrong? Extra-curricular activities and less responsibilities are so addicting that we many a times lose track of time and importance of seriousness in life. I had become so easy going and not giving a damn about anything that the bubble of mediocricity had begun to close in on me. I couldn't figure what kind of person I had become. I was irritated all the time, being judgemental and angry on people. It's like backfire. It should not be this way. I had to get back on the right track. Then it struck me. Eureka. I said to myself, "Tanaya, maybe it's time you rediscovered yourself."

The first step was to say NO. I would not do something just because people will like it if I did. I'll be more of myself, than someone others want. I wanted friends that love me because of who I am, and not how I look or how famous I am. That's the key to happiness. After all, happiness is what we are all chasing in our lives. It's about being you. Knowing how to balance fun and work, and not over doing any. And when you think that something is not right and the limits are being crossed, take a break. You already know what's wrong. You just have to realize it. Maybe when you get back to your routine, after that short period of enlightenment, you might just find yourself shouting “Eureka.”

Tanaya Seth