I always end my training sessions with an impacting video or an inspirational story. One day, I kept searching for such video as I have a leadership training the next day. That was when I saw this short film; Piper. It changed my perception about fear forever. Here is the story and what I understood from it.

One day, a baby sandpiper from her nest watches her mother digging through the sand and picking a shell. She opens her mouth and eagerly waits for her mother. As nothing happens, she looks back at her mother. The mother asks the baby piper to come to the seashore to catch food on her own. With a lot of enthusiasm she runs to the shore. When the wave rolls back to the sea she tries to dig the sand and pick some shells out. She observes the other birds going back to the higher land of the shore and she also starts moving with them. On her way back, she slowes down to watch bubbles on the water. Before she could realize, a wave rolls up and washes her out to the shore. The next morning, she gets scared to come out of the nest. But her mom pushes her onto the sand. She slowly comes to the shore and quickly runs into the seaweed after seeing a wave. Two snails beneath her feet bring her out of the seaweed. She steps aside and watches the two snails and a baby snail going towards the sea. A wave hits them and piper runs to the baby snail to see whether it is fine. The little one cleans the sand in its shell, rises and walks towards the sea as if nothing happened. This bird goes along with the little snail onto the shoreline. Before she could fetch food, she sees a huge wave coming her way. She does not have enough time to run back. She watches the tiny snail burying itself in the sand, so she quickly buries herself in the sand too and tightly closes her eyes. When it is inside the water, the baby snail knocks on her beak, and when she opens her eyes, she witnesses the most beautiful thing ever. After that, she never got scared of waves. She enjoyed fetching food not only for herself but for everyone around her. 

There is a lot of enthusiasm and energy that we bring along when we start something new. Lack of discipline, lack of knowledge, self-doubt, and negative thoughts act as a huge wave and shatters all our hopes. Inside, we are scared to give it a try once again after a failure. There is no doubt that we get a positive push from our well wishers. When we fall, we also get a chance to learn to rise. How the piper learnt from a baby snail in the same way forget who we are seeking the knowledge from. They can be younger than you, less powerful than you are, but learn from them. Once you acquire the required knowledge, tips & tricks that are needed to continue what you have started, the sky is your limit. Don't be afraid of obstacles but be afraid of not doing what you dreamed of. Fear is an inevitable part of your journey, so don't step back, don't try to overcome but give it a different meaning. Every time you get scared, tell yourself that you have something new to learn. Be confident. Jai Hind.