Hailing from a middle-class family, with a strong inclination to education, I can say that I have been privileged enough to not see much struggling in life. That being said, preparing for medical entrance exams and losing out on a few marks really took a toll on my confidence. As with every Indian fellow brother and sister, I opted for the next best thing which was engineering. And got securely placed in an MNC. Little did I know, I was yet to face my biggest enemy in life.
When you are working in a not-so-challenging environment, it's easy to slip into a comfort zone. You start your day at 9 AM and pass the day uneventfully, staring at the clock to chime 6. You slowly start putting on weight because of the quarterly parties. You are addicted to Netflix and distanced from any real world occurences. All you look forward to in your life now is Marriage and possibly, a job switch at a 50% hike. Basically, you start living like a corpse, which has no higher purpose in life, except decay. It's a dark phase but the glitter of comfort eclipses that uneasy feeling. That sub-conscious voice that keeps telling you- "You have to get out of your comfort zone and realise your true potential. You're not here on earth to survive but to live."
Then one day something snaps. Something triggers an action, rekindles a fire in you. You realize you have succumbed to the worst of vices- Mediocrity. "Everything you ever wanted is one step outside of your comfort zone". Many of you will disagree, that this isn't real struggle, that it's a lifestyle choice. Try solving CAT Level questions after a 2 year hiatus. But I took one day at a time and it was a cycle of despair, disappointment, failure and some success but I eventually made it into TAPMI, one of the prestigious B-schools in this country and I'm living my dream. If there's one thing I would tell my younger self, it's to step out of the walls of your cubicle, it's where true magic lies!