An Intriguing Life Lessons Story on Guts to Renounce!

An Insightful Series of Life Lessons That My Life Provided As I Lived Understanding Its Psychology and Philosophy Improving My Mental Health in The Process.

Jul 01, 2026

LIFE LESSON STORIES SERIES

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: One Who Has Guts to Renounce Attracts Others

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story on Guts to Renounce!

My freelance venture of group training sessions picked up reasonably well. But the best thing that it empowered me with was the freedom to do what all I was passionate about. It enabled me to make my passions center-stage while slipping silently to a secondary role for supporting me financially.

One more thing that helped me in establishing myself as a brand was my tag of being an ex-scientist. But a much bigger tag than this was my guts to have renounced such a coveted position. Somehow it gave me a bigger than life-size stature in people’s eyes professionally as well as personally.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: Shivani and Her Narcissistic Ego

Anyway, in one of my last memoirs, I had mentioned about leaving my hometown to join a theater group in the valley below. And to my utter surprise, I found my recent acquaintance Shivani as a member of the same theater group. Soon I discovered that she was the heartthrob of almost every single person in the group whether married or unmarried.

And she knew it well. On top of it she enjoyed it as a narcissistic pleasure. I found it ugly and hence kept a personal distance from her. That seemed to challenge her narcissistic ego in a big way but as it wasn’t my concern, I didn’t bother. I knew I wasn’t a narcissist but feeding a narcissist’s ego wasn’t my cup of tea. That was how my personality had grown up like.

So, the relationship between the two of us that went on for months together was a kind of love-hate relationship. She looked forward for me to join the queue of her emotional admirers as their heartthrob. The more she found it difficult to achieve, the more she kept turning critical of me.

I was no less so. I could never appreciate her acting skills and openly criticized her performances. That was another blow on her ego. Her problem was that she couldn’t write me off owing to my performance as a writer director. More important was my bigger than life-size stature that my renunciation of a coveted career had imparted to me.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: I Play An Actor

Then it happened that another director wanted to cast me as an actor in the lead role in his play. I tried to avoid but he somehow convinced me. I played the role of Jesus Christ who had to carry his own cross for his crucifixion. It was a very intense role that I received a lot of accolades for. That was the first time when Shivani came up to me and genuinely congratulated me.

“You are not only a writer director, but you are also a great actor!” her eyes were shining as she spoke.

“Thanks a lot for appreciation!” I humbly said.

“I know you never appreciated my acting. Earlier I thought you had no right to criticize me as an actor since you never wore an actor’s shoes. But now you have established your authority to criticize my acting. My salutes to you!” she really saluted as she said these words.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: Somesh’s Weird Plan

Very shortly after this episode, another weird episode took place. A theater activist and entrepreneur named Somesh Garg visited the valley in connection with a business project he had started there. He was from National School of Drama, where Shivani and I were planning to take admission in the coming session.

It was a premium institute of the country in the field of theater. Its pass-outs easily got an entry into the glamorous world of Bombay film industry as well. Somesh also visited our theater group and interacted with every member as if he was assessing them all. Everyone was enchanted by his presence in our group.

He stayed there for a couple days. Before leaving the valley, he requested me to meet him in person if possible. I went to his hotel where he was staying and asked him what he had called me for.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: Somesh Asks for My Opinion

“May I ask you for a personal favor?” he said.

“Say,” I went curious.

“I found you the most intelligent and trustable person in the group,” he looked at me intently.

“I don’t know. I have never been so sure about myself,” I smiled.

“I don’t think I have assessed you wrong,” he insisted.

“Well, in that case it has inflated my ego. Tell me what personal favor you are asking for before it gets deflated back,” I smiled slyly this time.

Somesh kept laughing for long. Then he very slowly asked me in a very low volume,” What’s your opinion about Shivani?”

“My opinion? She is very beautiful,” I again played naughty.

“Don’t tease me now,” Somesh requested.

“Okay, in my opinion she is a mixed bag of virtues and vices,” I gave my frank opinion.

“If you have to describe her in one word, what would that be?” Somesh took it a step further.

“Could I use two, one virtue and one vice?” I sought for a little more flexibility.

“Go ahead,” said Somesh.

“Adventurous and manipulative,” I described her in two words.

“The first one needs passion and the second needs sharpness,” he smiled as he tried to analyze my description.

“Okay, now tell me what personal favor you are asking me for?” I straight came to the point.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: Somesh Requests for My Help

“I have fallen for her. And I can provide to her all she wants from life. I want to marry her. Could you advocate my case to her?” he straight came to the point too.

“You are employing a very shabby method. It’s risky for you. If you want a thing done right, do it yourself. What if she shoots the messenger?” I warned him.

“There is nothing indecent in what I am proposing. Why would she shoot the messenger?” he put his logic forward.

“I am not talking of decency or indecency. I am saying what if she shoots the messenger with her Cupid’s arrow?” I clarified my warning.

“I have full faith in your trustability,” he smiled.

“An open door tempts even a saint,” I smiled back slyly.

“I could have done it on my own, had I been stationed here in the valley. You spend long hours with her every day and that’s what you can utilize to plead my case my lord. Will you?” Somesh looked at me with high hopes as he smiled.

“No guarantees! I can just try. The final verdict rests with the real Lord sitting up in the sky,” I gave my verdict.

“Fair enough! I will remain thankful to you for my entire life,” Somesh held my hands with a feeling of gratefulness.

An Intriguing Life Lessons Story: The Execution

After Somesh had left, I sat with Shivani on a free day and presented Somesh’s case in the most attractive words. But what happened was what I had feared the most. She actually shot the messenger with her Cupid’s arrow. And she didn’t just shoot him with one of them, she rather kept emptying her quiver until the messenger fell.

I was hit so hard I couldn’t avoid falling for her. My warnings given to Somesh had come true. Soon we were in each other’s arms.

“You know what attracted me the most toward you?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know. It always intrigues me when someone gets attracted toward me,” I expressed my wonder.

“Your guts to renounce! You don’t run after things and even have guts to renounce what you already have. Like you renounced your luxurious engineering career for a new freelance venture. It was this that got me attracted to you the very first day when Rahul had introduced you to us. I know you too have been attracted to me all along even if for my beauty alone. I know my beauty has spoiled me as a person. People chase me for it and I enjoy when they do. But you never chased me once. And now you are ready to renounce me for Somesh’s sake! How do you do that? I never could. But I love the ones who can. I do love you,” she stopped speaking only when her lips got stuck on to mine.

Life had taught me another precious lesson that day.

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