Fulfilling Commitment with Self is the Biggest Conquest of Life

Arunima Sinha and her Commitment with Self

Padam Shri Arunima Sinha

Arunima Sinha who decided to become a winner and not a victim of the mishaps and miseries of her life emerged as an inspiration for many despondent youngsters who are on the verge of quitting their passion and Dreams.

Arunima Sinha, born on 20 July 1989, India’s first female amputee mountaineer to scale Mt. Everest has shown her grit and determination and proved that your biggest conquest in life is fulfilling your Commitment With Yourself.

Before all the achievements of Arunima, there’s a grim and horrifying story that changed her life completely. Back in the year 2011, she was a national-level volleyball player and she was thrown off a running train while she was travelling to attempt her CISF examination. She fought hard to resist the robbery in train and refused to give her gold chain to the thieves, to revenge upon her audacity, the thieves threw her out of the train. The whole night, Arunima Sinha, who had her leg cut off, screamed in agonizing and unbearable pain. She then fought for her Life in a hospital for the next four months and due to the accident, her leg had to be amputated below the knee.

After having received an artificial limb, she resolved not to be a victim of the circumstances but to become a winner emerging out of all odds. Her biggest motivation was the autobiography of Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer- You We Can narrating his battle with cancer and his phenomenal comeback at Indian cricket. She refused the job provided as compensation and decided to live her life on her own terms and conditions and not on others’ mercy.

After having recovered fully, she joined the Eco Everest Expedition team at a training camp managed by the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation in Uttarkashi and got trained under mountaineer Bachendri Pal. Her arduous training year made her physically tough, yet sometimes when she couldn’t compete with the normal people, she felt disheartened. But her strong commitment to herself and an undying desire to conquer the world kept her going.

Within two years, Arunima was ready to climb the highest mountain peak. When she was very close to her goal, she went running out of oxygen and it seemed there were few chances of her survival. But as we know, “When you want something so ardently, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” and the same happened with Arunima. The same day, a British mountaineer threw away an additional oxygen cylinder after he had decided to return home without climbing and that cylinder was grabbed by Sherpa Kancha and thus Arunima’s life was saved.

Finally, on May 21, 2013, just after two years of the accident, dawned upon the victorious day, when she proved that people can only cripple you physically but none can paralyze your spirit, your mindset, and your commitment with self until you allow it. She hoisted the national tricolor at Mt. Everest and became the first female amputee mountaineer to reach the highest summit in the world. It was an arduous expedition of 52 days that gave birth to a new Arunima, the unstoppable, the invincible. 

With her firm resolve, she conquered the highest peaks in all seven continents of the world- Everest in Asia, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Kosizko in Australia, Aconcagua in Argentina (South America), Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia and the final summit, Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

She has been conferred the Padma Shri, India’s 4^th highest civilian award in the year 2015. She taught that it takes stronger commitments, perseverance, and poise that zero in on the goals and take home the winning trophies.  

How to Stay Committed with Self

Commitment begins with strong emotions of intent and focus, associated with a perfect plan and purpose, and ends with the ‘Eureka’ moment of achieving something. Cognizant of the fact that commitment is the essential ingredient of the recipe of success, we often mistake commitment as  promise; a commitment requires infinite fortitude to not deviate and staying true to yourself and to your goal. Your goals can be any- a healthier life, fitness, better Relationships, professional growth, spirituality, or Cultivating a Habit. Your commitment motivates you to abandon your Comfort Zone and keep moving to gauge your progress.

Commitment makes you Unstoppable

Cognizant of the fact that setbacks and Obstacles are the inevitable corollaries of striving on the way to achieving success, one feels invigorated and confident if they possess an unwavering commitment with self. Being committed helps you remain fully engaged in all your endeavors, stay conscious and persistent enough to turn new leaf in life. A true commitment isn’t something that go with your choices and liking or convenience but it is a force that propelled you from average to excellent and serves as an anchor while surmounting the stumbling blocks.

Commitment Teaches you to Prioritize and to Be Proactive

There are moments when you are left flummoxed by the barrage of social and professional commitments making you oblivion of your personal commitments leading to a catastrophic distraction from your Goals. Let’s understand it with a simple example; suppose you have taken a fitness goal but you experience a bombardment of household chores, time clashes, kids’ attention, etc. Now what you need is a stronger commitment with your fitness regime because commitment is the only factor that will keep you anchored in what you want to achieve. It gives momentum to your thinking process to prioritize and distinguish between what is important and what is more important. It helps you dedicate the right amount of dedication and energy to the right things at perfect time. In the same vein, it instills a proactive attitude because commitment organizes your life and when you are free from the clutter of disturbing and distracting elements you become strongly able to pursue what you want in life.

Fulfilling commitment to self is the biggest conquest of life because it gives you the courage to risk going far and only those who can risk going too far can possibly explore and know their limits- how far can they go?

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

-Socrates