Confessions of a small(ish) fish

Resting himself inside a 'cocoon', eating his way to happiness and knowing exactly how to handle stuff on any regular day, this little fish had everything what he wished for. He knew exactly how to handle things, was comfortable when any irregularity used to happen in his life and was always safe in the support of family, siblings and friends. Anything that you could possibly imagine regarding a secured life, he had it all!

But that's the thing about comfort right? You are comfortable because you develop a safety zone and would like to reside in that zone for possibly the rest of your life. You are probably best at what you do, within that zone. You seldom explore, try out new things and make mistakes. You just love to do the same things day in and day out. And as long as your requirements are being met, you hardly care. 

As a legendary movie character (Joker from The Dark Knight) once said, "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos". Should we stir the pot, or pond in this case? How, you may ask.

Let's move this little fish out of his familiar small pond and placed into a big endless sea.

What do you think will be the emotion expressed by this little fish? Fear? Nervous? Anxiety? Excited? 

The answer will depend on how exactly you will feel when you are placed in a similar position. I, for one, will be anxious. Fear and Excitement are two extremes who only a small section of the population will go through. Nervous and Anxious are the middle line.

Now, our little fish will have to swim "with the proverbial sharks". This little fish will find many others swimming around who have made this big sea their home. Any intruder in one's home will be treated with anger, caution but not happiness. This little fish will now have to co-exist with the others and on occasions, will have to compete for common areas. Areas could be finding a place called home, eating stuff that's common across all similar sized neighbors and avoid being eaten by bigger neighbors. It's almost as if his world is now upside down!

Everybody goes through such a phase at least once in their lives. Some are fortunate enough to experience it early while some find this later. I am going through this phase. Early / later - I leave it to reader interpretation. The faster you adapt, the stronger you will grow and thrive. It's like a race with a small difference - winning the race is not mandatory; not losing is critical. 

The race has begun.