Just imagine that if you woke up on your 60th birthday and figured out that you dragged yourself to work for the past 40 years of your life? Wouldn’t that be pathetic? But yet, many of us drag ourselves us to work every day. We sit in front of our monitors and tap on our keyboards and gyrate our mice, emotionally disconnected from what our hands and minds do because our hearts are some place else. We speak about “work-life balance” without even giving a thought to the utter absurdity of the term.
Some of us are least bothered. We never had a passion in life and we never cared. And some of us did have a passion, an yearning to do something that we truly loved. And we now live in denial, telling ourselves that it is fate and that we need to stick to what destiny has planned for us. We tell ourselves that our parents have a standing in society and that it needs to be preserved. The pressure of our peers and the mockery our relatives, didn’t we have enough?
My story today revolves around two people, whose names I do not wish to reveal. One of them is about to finish his first year MBBS at CMC, while the other just joined as a fresher for the same program this year. They are 23. Yes, they are as old as me. And I just completed two years in the corporate world! Do you know how difficult is to find yourself in the company of people who are disconnected from you emotionally by age? Do you know how difficult it is to get ordered around or even ragged when you are an adult? Well, at least it is not as hard as finding out that you should have done something else in your life when you are old and have a grandchild on your lap!
So, what did you want to be? A physicist? An economist? An architect? A doctor? A dentist? A writer? - the deep earning of a soul back then but bad memories that bring a sigh now. Why should it be that way? Why can’t we change it?
All we have is one life and I think it does not make sense to live it for others unless you are absolutely sure that you want to do it that way. Run to your first love.
During lunch, a friend told me about another who had a deep passion to become an architect but took up electronics and then went on take up a position in the software services industry. She still retains her passion for architecture but quite unfortunately post graduate courses in architecture require a undergraduate degree in architecture or at least in civil engineering. I wrote this post when I came back from lunch.
One of the things that I have realized is, many of us aren’t very sure whether what we like doing now is really the one that we want to take up as profession. That doubt/scare stops us from making a bold decision. I have experienced it and I have no shame in sharing it because I feel it was a learning experience.
During 10th std, I decided that medicine is my profession and chose bio group in 11th. During 11th, I got to know more information about the profession and realized that is not what I really wanted to do.
During 12th, gazing at the skies fascinated me. I decided that I’ll one day become a great scientist in the field of astronomy and started collecting more information about the astronomy courses offered in India. My parents were so good that they tried reaching all their contacts to gather information for me. When I came to know more about the profession, the idea was ‘gone with the wind’.
During college days, I liked coaching. I was part of a leadership coaching company and was part of their sessions coaching close to 500 students. But this time, I was very cautious. I didn’t want to decide in a haste and take that up as a profession. After college, I spent few months coaching people, starting my own brand. I tasted success but I realized, I would enjoy coaching as a hobby but not a profession.
So, the point is, it is not every of your childhood interest can become a profession. It is very important that we distinguish our short term interests and our real passion. And I think it takes time to realize your passion. But, once you have realized, then it is important that we make the switch. While we advise people to chase their dreams, it is equally important that we educate people on how to differentiate between passion and short term interests.
As Soms said, let me say my story in short.
1. I love maths from childhood. No doubt.
2. But my parents want me to be a Doctor (earlier it was lawyer - because I used to argue a lot - then it got changed in the middle. Ask my mom or dad for why they changed it. So I sincerely took Bio group (in fact if there was a pure Bio group, I would have chosen that! What a tragedy it would have been) and studied.
3. When I realized there is no place for ‘maths’ in MBBS, I dropped the plan of doing MBBS.
4. I joined BE-CSE just to have the fun of Computers and the Math classes (I was told there will be maths upto 5th Semester).
5. Then I realized that my passion for maths is not ‘exactly’ full of maths, but a specific area of it and it is there in Algorithms, Number Theory, etc.
So finally I came back to my starting place and I am happy.
Now you are writing similar blogs for a long time, but what have you done about it?
Either,
1. You work in secrecy
2. You don’t work at all.
Both are bad
You bet!!!
Run to your first love..
I did, I am doing, I will soon run away further…
Its that feeling this post of yours leaves behind…that I will now trace for a long time…It is very important, that one does only what one loves to do..Like in your previous posts..
My first love was to become an astronaut,but I let go of it, due to reasons over which I had no control..Again a second time I was given an opportunity, to take it up but lost again as I had no control……I let it be there..
But I also liked zillion other things and all of them were tempting enuf to be my first love…
Journalism became stronger a dream when astronaut was rotting away…I’m there amongst all, but not yet there…But I now am after this love…ever since….and
your question
Do you know how difficult is to find yourself in the company of people who are disconnected from you emotionally by age?
I couldnt relate to it better….never..!
You are right absolutely.
Told ya ur writing is addictive to people like me!