There is a saying “God help those who help themselves”. The saying is indeed true. People with the quality of self-help or self, reliance never fail. Such men succeed in life. They do not wait for others to bring success to them. They try every means at their disposal to bring success. Self-reliance is a virtue that is rarely found in individuals today.
Self-help means doing our work by ourselves. It is basically relying on ourselves wherever possible and avoiding all sorts of unnecessary dependence. No doubt, it is not possible for any man to do all his work by himself. So, everyone has to depend to some extent on others. Still, the most successful man is one who depends least on others. There are hundreds of things in our life, which can be easily done by us. This is known as self-reliance or self-help.
There is no greater joy than the joy of living by our own sweat. They say that the ‘bread earned is far sweeter than the bread gifted’. To live on someone’s charity and kindness all the time is throttling and strangling our own god-given abilities. All of us have been born with great potential. They have to be utilised and put into use. Self- reliance is just that. It is basically utilising our own potential in the best possible way. Therefore, self-help offers us the possibilities of becoming what we truly are. Self-help, thus, develops our inborn faculties of mind and body. It is the key to success.
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When we do things by ourselves they tend to be good and perfect since they have been done willingly and done on our own. Tasks completed by ourselves not only give us great satisfaction and a sense of achievement, but also teaches us the value of tolerance. We come to understand that every work and task have their own lacunas and difficulties and therefore criticism of others and their work is considerably reduced. Another quality of self-help is that it makes the person self-confident and self-reliant. It makes individuals strong in mind and character. It instills the power of self- decision and personal choice. We become self-guiding and self-directing personalities.
This habit of self-help like all other habits should be acquired early in life. Children, when they are very young, should be taught to manage their own things such as, clothes, books, personal items, school work, etc. Providing too much of support and being always at their back, will spoil them. Therefore, the habit of self-reliance should begin early in
The habit of self-help instills in our minds, the power of independent thinking, quick decision and makes us responsible citizens. That is why, Swami Vivekananda once said “Give me ten men who believe in themselves and I shall revolutionise the entire world”. Self-reliant men are the need of the hour. Such men create history and lead a nation forward. They are the true pillars of a nation.