What Makes you happy...?

Ever wondered what does one need, to be happy? There is no particular answer, as the preferences and the wish list keeps on changing. If i look back, some years down the lane during my college days, Number 1 item in my wish list to keep me happy forever was a mobile phone. Then it became a laptop. A good job. A 5 digit salary slip. Then a bike and then a car and the list goes on. At each point of time in life we have something or the other which we think, that makes our life happy forever and when we get the current number 1 item in the wish list, then it gets replaced with another one. In short, through out the life we are in search of happiness.Somehow when we achieve it, the journey starts again all together.This search for happiness which would make our tomorrow beautiful, often makes our today a dreadful one., what an irony...!

Keeping in mind of the fact that we are living in a society where power, position and money is the measure of status among the rest of the people around, i dare not to blame this nature of people where every one is a part of the race. Even if you dont want to be in it, you are forced to run along so that you are not left behind. One question out here. Me, you and 90% of the people around are swimming along with the tide inorder to have a steady and safe future. But how many of us have the guts to swim in the direction which we want to go no matter in what direction the tide is flowing? It is quite a tough decision to make, to chase your dreams.

Let me tell you a living example and the most apt one which i can relate to this topic. I am not going to talk about any celebrities or the stars up above as i dont know them in person. I am going to talk about my friend, Shijith, who had the guts to start chasing his dream. Shijith is a classical dancer and an artist from his childhood onwards. His aim in life is to become a cine actor.From his childhood onwards he just have one ultimate goal, that is to become an actor and he is working hard for it, even now. Soon after the graduation, many of us from the same batch could bag some jobs in many IT giants. But this guy was least bothered to kill his goal with a steady income salary from some company. So he decided not to settle down for anything less than his dream. Well, it has started to get back for his efforts and hardwork as he is starting to make his mark in the industry. Now this is just one example which shows us, that, there are people who dont go along with destiny and prefer to write their own.

Friday night, there was a party at my home and we 3 friends had many healthy discussions and debate. After getting a high, one of them asked me whether i am happy with what i am right now and if he puts me 5 years back in the past, will i chose the same career which i have chosen right now. I dint had to think much and i answered, Yes, i would have. When i asked myself why i said that without a second thought , it was then i realized that right now i love what i am doing. There is no guarantee that i would keep on loving it after 5 more years, as i have said earlier, preferences keep on changing. There could be some other passion for me which i think that could be the reason for my happiness. Off late, i have developed a passion for writing. It gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction when someone reads my articles and say "Hey, that was a good one!". So there are chances for me to drift away from my current way of life to a whole new world. I am sure that there would be plenty of obstacles and roadblocks ahead, but the joy and pleasure which you get when you attain your long wished goal is much much higher than the momentary happiness which the items in your wishlist can give.

In short, what i am telling all this while is that, if you want to know what makes you really happy or if you have ever wondered that my life is not going smooth as expected, then sit back for a while and think, what you really need. May be you are not in the right track or may be you are in the right track but you are not at the required pace. Nothing happens in life for no reason. It is high time that we begin to live for ourself and break the conventional ways. I see that there are lot of people who still live in a coccoon and are scared to fly out to the sky leaving their comfort zone behind. A butterfly cannot fly around the sky or feel a flower if it does not want to coome out of the coccoon. Likewise, we need to come out of the shell. When i was working at Infosys, i had made a huge comfort zone out there as i had been working at the same place for long 4 years. But at one point of time, i felt like i should leave the shell and need to fly out. When we are inside a comfort zone and are scared to venture out, we never know how big is the canvas outside and how vivid opportunities are waiting for us. After all, a change is what one looking for and it is indeed refreshing. So my humble request for every one who is reading this article is that, next time when things doesnt work well according to your wish, dare not to blame your destiny. Start realizing yourself and let the wagon moving for that. No history is made by its own. We make History...!!!

Good Day...!

- G.Sarath Menon
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