Life is a race – Marathon or Hundred Meters?

People have described life in so many ways. In many discussions’ life is compared with different sports such as running, a game of cricket, hockey, boxing etc.

For people living in this age, life is a race. That too, a Hundred Meter race. Fast & Furious. Everyone wants to pick up the speed at the word Go. Reach the peak of your speed and spear ahead in a flash. Everyone wants to start early and finish early. Want to run for everything and accomplish it ASAP as if there is no tomorrow. Want to triumph significant milestones very early in their life.

The majority of teenagers want to shine in their lives in the shortest possible time. Whether it is breaking the world record, earning money, getting famous, establishing their career, achieving milestones in their life etc. We salute them for their clarity of thoughts, determination, hard work and focus. They, at times, put their entire golden years at stake and achieve name and fame for themselves. We as a society also applaud their heroics and what they have achieved at such a young age. But at times, one question comes to mind, whether life is a hundred-meter race or a marathon?

When you know you have to live life for 80 to 90 years (as the life expectancy has gone up in the last couple of decades or so), you have to prepare for it in a way to live long enough. Similarly, when we know your professional journey will be longer, one has to prepare and know when to slow down and when to reach the peak and when to accelerate. We all know the story of hare and tortoise – “slow and steady wins the race”.

But we believe that story does not hold good in the current age. Today we live in the age of social media validation; life is as short as your last deliverable, last post, last reel, last video, or last content on your status. People’s memory is very short. You need to get the eyeballs every day to remain in the limelight, and we all live our life by someone’s validation.

When we see the period shortening from incubation to unicorns, we also aspire to achieve everything in the shortest possible time. Be it health, wealth, or fame. I admire those who can succeed at an early stage in their lives. But if someone cannot match the speed with their peers and is left behind in their professional journey, how to prepare oneself to face all the internal and external challenges? I will go back to our ancestors, and in Kavya Vinod, in one of the shlok, it says

शनैः पन्थाः शनैः कन्था शनैः पर्वतमस्तके ।
शनैः विद्या शनैः वित्तं पञ्चैतानि शनैः शनैः ॥

(अर्थात धीरे-धीरे (या धैर्य के साथ) रास्ता तय करना, धीरे-धीरे चादर सिलना और धीरे-धीरे ही पहाड़ चढ़ना चाहिए। धीरे-धीरे विद्यार्जन, धीरे-धीरे धनोपार्जन करना चाहिए। यानी इन पांच कामों को निश्चित रूप से धैर्य के साथ करना चाहिए।)

(Slowly, one needs its journey to reach the end; One should weave slowly; Slowly, one needs to reach the top of the mountain while climbing; it takes time to become a Yogi or acquiring knowledge and obtaining money is also achieved in due course of time (slowly) by constant effort.)

I believe it is a very apt shlok at all times and particularly in the current age. We need to prepare for the marathon called life. It requires you to prepare for the long term and train yourself to be slow and consistent with your efforts and plan phases of your life for the long term.

Preparing for life is like training for a marathon – it is a high impact activity, and one
should not do “too much too soon”. Doing too much too soon doesn’t give your mind and body ample time to reflect, leading to unintended stress. Give yourself time to prepare, think, attempt and excel. Be consistent with your efforts. It does not happen overnight.

Today, every youngster wants to make a statement as soon as they have completed studies, taken their first job or started their venture. Everything worthwhile requires time and consistent efforts to shine. It is an old saying that when one plants mango trees, they know that fruits will be enjoyed by their second generation. Despite that, they plant the tree. But, alas, who has time to wait in this age of instant gratification? We need to think, plan, pose/reflect upon, act, believe in ourselves, upgrade and be consistent with what we do to achieve in life without giving much attention to so-called perceived competition and social media validation. Life is not a hundred-meter race; it’s a marathon.