Stretching it too far

There comes a moment in your life when you feel like you've just come round a full circle. You get out of the threshold, break your own self-created shell, experience new things, have fun, bask in the glory, enjoy the new life, be admired by others for what you're doing, admire yourself for what you're doing... and then get used to it. You feel like this is the new you, that your old personality has been discarded forever. You feel you've changed. When you look at your own past, you just can't relate with it anymore. It feels so distant, awkward, other-worldly. All of a sudden, life seems so interesting. You start thinking, why didn't I change before?!

Weeks go on... and this new life becomes an inseparable part of you. Or so it seems. You start indulging in the new things more often than ever before, and you really like it. Then a month, two months... it goes on and on, every morning, afternoon, night. Just a continuous flow, and no hint of the person that you were, just a few months ago. It's official now: You. Have. Changed.

As months pass by, everything seems wonderful..... And then, slowly, steadily, unnoticed by you, something seems unnatural. It's a clear blue sky... but in the edge, just entering into the horizon, there's a small cloud. A small, harmless one that can never rain by itself. Still, it's there. But your mind is too engrossed in the blue sky to notice that small thing over there.

There's a peculiar thing called 'elasticity' which we had studied back in our physics classes. It basically states that every solid object has a limit which is known as a 'yield point'. Beyond that, the atoms (or molecules) can't stretch themselves further apart from each other, and they tend to revert back to their original position as soon as the stretching is stopped. However, if you still continue to stretch it... it breaks.

A perfectly elastic substance doesn't exist in reality.

But, there are two kinds of substances, Some are highly elastic, and some aren't. It's an innate, intrinsic property of each particular substance, one that cannot be changed.

And that's the way things should be handled. If you have a copper wire and attempt to increase its length just by pulling it with your fingers from both ends, the effect will not be tangible. However, if you have a rubberband, you can stretch it for a pretty long distance. In the case of the copper wire, you might still stretch if you like with all your might, but your efforts will simply go waste. Useless.

And with the rubberband, you can increase its length just by applying a little force. Stretch it, stretch it.... and then, you find the rubberband getting uncomfortable. It's resisting your actions. It's telling you to stop.

Here, you have a choice. Either, you can listen to it and stop, or you can continue stretching to see how far it goes.

But you're in no mood to stop. You find this new sense of stretch exhilarating. Your diameter is much bigger than before! A stretched rubberband gives you the sense of adventure, the feeling of being on the edge. The previous, unstretched, inactive state was so dull and boring, wasn't it? No, you've changed! There's no way in hell you're going to stop!

So, you stretch further. Go on. It expands further. But then, you find the strand of the rubberband getting thinner and thinner. That's a sign of weakness, that it wasn't as strong as it was before. You pay no heed. It's expanding, it's getting bigger, and that's all that matters to you.

Snap.

It breaks. Gone. All the euphoria, the excitement, the happiness - gone. Just like that. In a microsecond. It's all over, now. This rubberband is of no use to you anymore.

So, what happened? You basically tried to stretch it beyond what is known as its 'yield point'. You tried to do something more than what is within its limit. And inevitably, you couldn't. That's the reason they call it a "limit".

So, what's the point here?

Good question. The point is, whenever there's a limit to something, it shouldn't be crossed. There's no limit to your dreams, your achievements, your kindness... no, there isn't. But there's a limit to how far you can stretch things with a person when you know it's not going to work out. There's a limit to things which involve you and another person, because the other person may not think on the same lines as you do. Why? Because you weren't good enough? No! There are things in life which simply aren't meant to be. You might be awesomeness personified, but that doesn't mean you're going to get EVERYTHING in life. There are things that defy all logic.. and maturity involves accepting this fact. If you don't accept it, then well, you aren't awesomeness personified. Plain as that.

So yeah, be mature. Take control. Stop stretching. There's no need to revert back to the original position; just stay the way you are and you'll be fine with it. It's much, much better than breaking it.

The rubberband is precious, bro. Keep it.