A Road Less Travelled

 I shall be telling this with a sigh

 Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

That is a part of the poem written by Robert Frost and totally appropriate for so many day to day scenarios happening in my life. Why is that people including me always want to travel via the well threaded path, not taking a path in life which is not even minutely uncomfortable. Is it the fear of complete failure that drives people not to take risk with these paths or because of sheer laziness.

Human mind is one of those medical marvels and we are still clueless as how it works, but there is one thing I understood. Challenges keeps the mind fresh and in top shape. Even if the mind opposes any challenges (as with the majority of the human population.. :P ) , having a goal in life is very important, else the mind becomes dormant and in the end what we get is a completely disgruntled personality who complains about everything in his life. Hence the problem lies within, not in the world around us, we have to take charge of our life instead of "going with the flow" attitude.

After working nearly 3+ years in the software industry when I look back I dont feel I did anything worthwhile. Which was not the case before that. When in school my aim (at least subconsciously :) )was to get good percentage and a good education. After that came PU education where the goal was to  secure a seat in a good college and with my preferred branch. In engineering college the goal was to get placed in an awesome tech company. Everything was fine until then. Even though it was hard, I was satisfied.  But when the professional career began the illusion which I had in my childhood regarding a working person shattered. All the goals went down the drain. I used to think that working people are so cool, no worries, just work maadi and get money in tons. Its true that life becomes a lot more comfortable with money and time. But I couldnt figure out the frustration and irritation one is made to undergo during the professional career. Now I have come to the conclusion that the days back then were much better than the soup we are in right now.

Some time back I came across an article about "Quarter Life Crisis". And if you compare with what I have told above with the symptoms of the crisis there is as striking similarity. With all probability I might be suffering from that, but not to a serious extent. And not just me, there is lot of  frustration in this age group. Some live with it, some focus their attention away from it (like how I was doing so far) and some face it head on.

Finally after nearly 1 year of scratching my head I have come to the conclusion to have goals at any point of my life. The goals might be with respect to professional career or on the personal front. Can be either long termed or short termed. "Travel frequently on the less threaded path , if not always" will henceforth be my  motto.Goals which I will be proud to achieve and make me feel that my life on this planet was not totally worthless :).