Ambition

Lemons Analogy

I had to dream. Believe it or not, it was an escape. Most people’s thoughts haunt them – mine give me an escape. There was something about the future that kept my present at peace. It kept me going, it kept me aiming; it kept me running with all my might, breathlessness. It didn’t matter what or who got in the way because I knew, that behind that was what I wanted. And what’s a little trouble in your way when what’s behind it is your joy, passion, goal?

                “When life hands you lemon, make lemonade.” God, how much I’ve heard that saying, and yet, it never really got to me. I always wondered, “what if life didn’t hand me any lemons? Do I end up with nothing?” That’s the thing about the quote that really bothers me. It’s not supposed to be about life lending you a helping hand. In this cruel, broken world you may never find anyone to lend you a shoulder to cry on, let alone a helping hand. Going out into that ruthless world, planting the seeds, watering the soil, outlaying time and effort and pain and sweat, is what gets you the lemons. And when you finally earn those lemons, you work even harder to make yourself some lemonade.

Farah Bekhaazi