When I and some of my friends got into the Civil Services, many of us said, “Now, our life is all set.”
But this was not the first time I was hearing this. Years earlier, when I got into IIT, my teachers also had said the same thing — “Now your life is all set.”
Here is the update: Even today, my life is not all set. Nor do I think it will ever be. I am not even sure if I want it to be all set.
If you are waiting for your college or MBA admission, thinking “Once I get into IIMA, my life will be all set”, here is the bad news: It won’t.
The goal of life is not to settle down into a pattern of unchanging regularity, where every new day is predictably safe and nice. Whether we like it or not, life is an adventure. And even we don’t know which mountain we will want to climb a decade later.
Why then do we have such a strong urge for a ‘set life?’
Humans hate challenges. We don’t want pain and disappointment. We don’t want to struggle.
Yet, how can there be an adventure without struggle? If a cable car took us to Mt. Everest, would it not become a glorified Delhi Metro?
Adventure is another name for struggle when it is chosen voluntarily. Forget the set life — instead, enjoy this roller coaster adventure.
– Rajan