There is NO Other Option?

I was 16 when I left home, and so was my mom. We both left with our parent’s blessings. The only difference is that I left with my willingness and she was against hers. We both were looking up to our futures. She was getting married to my father then and I was leaving to study for my JEE preparation. By the age of 19, her world expanded by having my brother and me, and mine by getting into IIT Bombay. We both were looking forward to this new world, full of possibilities. We both were certain at that stage what we wanted from life next — a bright future for our families.

By the time, she was ~33 years old, both of us (my brother and I) left home to study further (what she dreamt for us). But today when I am at a similar age, I wonder how life would’ve been for her. How did she manage so many emotions of being far from kids(in a not-so-connected world), but giving them the confidence that you would be okay and do well? Having negative financial security (loans), both of them(mom and dad) worked hard to pay our fees. I wonder, how it was for them to bring up my younger brother while managing so much.

I often look back and wonder, How did she get so much courage? Where did she get this courage from? And how do I replicate this in my life? So I asked her, and she said smilingly “There was no other option”. Now, of course, there were plenty of other options. Other people in the village are also surviving. Why did she think, there was no other option? I guess she meant, nothing else would have given her as much joy as seeing her kids chasing their own dreams.

I also wonder, “Why entrepreneurship?”, and the same answer comes to my mind “There is no other option”. Nothing else gives me as much joy. And thinking there is no other option, helps me to think long-term, just like my parents. Temporary problems /rewards would keep coming and going, but what would remain there is — a focus on the long-term goal, of creating value and a brighter future.