What happened to us?

I’ve been giving a kind of motivational talk to school students for around four years. But recently I have been making a statement(which was not part of the original script) that as kids we have wild, and ambitious goals, but when we grow up we seem to be losing confidence in who we are. As a kid we scream that we want to be a doctor, scientists, in the army…and many more. But as we grow up we narrow down the choices. We seem to accept reality, and we slowly give up on all the wild ideas we had in our lives. By 12th grade, we are unsure about the course we have to take, and when we join college, we don’t know what we should do with our lives…we are like programmed rats, trying to be the best performing rat in an industry.

Then it dawned on me. I have become like everyone. Limiting myself… Not daring enough! My wild plans were all put to rest, blaming it on time, fate, and all other things. I wanted to be a world-class Fiction writer dealing with masterpieces. Shakespeare’s spirit possessed me in my youth! Alas, now I am a hack writer(Writing, but not what I want to write) I make little money because with money comes security. When you have no one depending on you, you can throw away all the cultural traps and focus on one bloody thing you want to do in your life. But there are bills to pay, people to please, cultural timeline to handle… it is a farce if you are ever wondering.

I think it would do our spirits some good if we could bring back that youthful confidence. That wild grit, that boldness to go after those mountain tops. But I know tomorrow morning we all have to punch in on time… life happens…but still try giving your wild dream some time… see where it takes you… I will try of course.. I won’t regret failing but surely I will regret not trying.