Chaos isn't a pit, Chaos is a ladder

                      /**I welcome one of my friends to co-author this article with me**/

           Chaos, a situation where our mind fumbles and heart rumbles. Everybody of us, at some point of time face a chaotic situation. Before I get to the helm of this topic, let me pose a question to you all, what is actually chaos? Prima facie, it means a disordered situation where one isn't able to decide what to do. By what I spoke just now then, chaos is a pit, a pit which is rounded, where there is no corner, everything seems even, every option seems viable and good to go with.
   It is a concept that is feared and a concept that is envisioned as this vast pit that is hard to escape from: A dark pit where all humanity is lost and there is no order. 
   So, elaborating more on chaos as a disorder, the next question that comes to one's mind is where is the way out? We are always unsure about every path we take may lead us down back where we are.We climb a few steps of a ladder we just chose in the chaotic situation, look down and finally fall back of being unsure of reaching the destination. So, having explained in a abstract way, now let me take a few examples:
Scenario: Suppose Mr/Ms X is appearing for campus interviews, and his/her college is a very renowned college in the country. Now X has too many options on the plate. For him/her, every option seems  to be a good bet. Company A provides ample money, company B provides a job profile he/she  wants, company C also provides a job profile of his/her choice.As he/she is not able to decide, he/she is in a pit, where to him/her every option seems viable and  good. He/she then chooses a company from the plate halfheartedly so that somehow he/she is  able to get out of it. With partial dedication there he/she always  judges every situation minutely. If  something ever goes wrong, he/she will blame it on the choice he/she had made during the chaotic  situation. Finally , with total dissatisfaction he/she leaves the company with framing up reasons for the same somehow in his/her mind and getting satisfied temporarily.

     Now let us take another perspective keeping the same scenario in mind. Mr/Ms X has so many options, so this forms a chaotic situation, or is it? The situation is not at all chaotic when Mr/Ms X knows what are his/her priorities. Even in the case of multiple companies offering the same profile, he/she will now choose the best one since his/her thoughts are directed. So, chaos is a situation which is backed by unclear thinking or priorities. He/she uses the so called chaotic situation to come up,rise up with the best possible option available. Just think, if he had just one company offering him a job, would he have had the privilege to work with the best in the market? Absolutely not. So, Mr/Ms X has now risen from the chaos; not only risen but also got the best possible option currently in market. So, what is the conclusion of this scenario? It is that chaos can be used as a ladder to come up with something which was otherwise not available in an ordered and systematic situation.
 I consider chaos as a combination of pleasure with pain. Pleasure because we are in the cloud of uncertainty as to what might turn up thus keeping the excitement quotient up. Pain because handling an uncertain situation requires a lot of mental effort and thinking out of the box; it also involves taking risks, sometimes even falling down and again getting up, which, to sum up, requires a great amount of endurance.
     Chaos is just a concept that hasn't been understood well. For example: chaos brings the best memories. When was the last time you remember something that went according to plan? It's not that much of a lasting memory. But don't you remember that time you got lost on the way home, and had to figure out the right way yourself? Now THATS a memory. And that's something that you will remember and even utilize every time you step out of your house.
  Absence of chaos can also be related to one not getting out of his/her comfort zone.There is a saying- The best things happened when you step out of your comfort zone and that is a perfect example of chaos; Stepping out of your comfort zone is a way of courting chaos. You have no idea and no control over what might happen, because you've never done this before. That seems a scary proposition. Most people would shy away from such circumstances. But the truth is that no matter what happens, you are always going to grow as a person after that. It might not be in the way that you'd expected, or the way that you'd want, but the fact is that your life is going to be different in some way; however subtle, however small.
   So every time you court chaos, you are in fact growing and changing. That chaotic event is going to take you some place that you've never gone before. And that is why it is a ladder. A ladder that makes you grow and take you places.
     However, some people choose to stay away from it because of reasons like fear, or their preconceived notions about what chaos is, and they cling to whatever they know without giving much emphasis on exploration. Some choose to not venture out into the unknown and stick to things they know and like, and what that essentially means is that they are stagnant. They are forever stuck in their so called ideal version of reality and convince themselves to stay away from chaos. They cling onto ideals like faith, pride, trust, ego and they choose not to climb their ladder, only to later realize that they have not grown as a person from life's experiences as much; how they are, in most ways, the same person they were years ago. Sometimes you might realise that you don't even require faith; sometimes you might find that you are strong even without something supporting you; sometimes, even from fear, comes strength.
  
So, friends, leave your inhibitions. Climb the ladder. Something great will come of it.

--Co-authored by Vikram Thyagarajan


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