Four kinds of people we come across in our lives - beware of the third
Nistha Tripathi
I help design HIGH GROWTH careers | ex UIUC NYU Citi | 140K IG 60K YT | 1200+ clients at MIT/Harvard/MAANG | LI Top Voices | study abroad coach
They can be like pebbles, fountains, quagmire or bridges
Every person you meet has been assigned to play a role in your story as you are assigned to play one in someone else’s. I often say that the people we come across can be one of the four kinds.
They can be like pebbles, fountains, quagmire or bridges.
Pebbles are those who you meet commonly and in abundance. They do not facilitate anything great but they help you continue walking on this journey of life. Everyone you cross in life without really connecting with them are pebbles.
Fountains — ah, the delight! Then there are fountains — who spring water of happiness on you. They bring positivity and joy; they nourish your soul and irrigate the seeds of good thoughts. Your friends, well-wishers are all fountains.
Quagmires are the opposite. These are the people who cause you pain. Now, even some pebbles may have caused you pain as it happens if you tread on a barbed pebble but the difference is that quagmires do that on purpose. They pull you down, induce fear and negativity by discouraging you and worrying you. They will not let you move on — that’s why they keep you bogged down in your failures.
You must stay away from quagmires — not just in physical lives but on your social media. Don’t let them drain the life juice out of you.
Bridges, finally, are the rarest of the rare — they connect you to unchartered ground that you wouldn’t have reached on your own. They unite you to your destiny. With them, your plane of consciousness expands, you see things you have not seen before; your life becomes more aware, more enlightened. Your parents, your teachers and anyone who touches your life and transcends it into something more beautiful — they are all bridges.
And, a good parting question is — who are you in someone else’s life? This thought (ever since I wrote it for my book) has prodded me to re-evaluate my role and impact on others. It has kept me on guard when I start diminishing into a pebble.
Originally written for Seven Conversations — a modern take on Bhagvad Gita.
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4yNistha Tripathi I usually try to be a Fountain or a Bridge but I also have a habbit of saying things bluntly the way I see it. I come across lot of people in financial stress. I am not in the habbit of sugar coating things. Sometimes the situations make it difficult to act like a Fountain or a Bridge.