Friday, November 04, 2011

Quarter Life Crisis

The fourth anniversary of my  joining an IT behemoth was a few days back , Oct 29th to be precise. I am a dimwit when it comes to numbers and dates and have trouble remembering important dates like birthdays and anniversaries ,but try as I might this date is stuck in my head . Its been a bitter sweet 4 long years and I can't say I feel the way I did on my second anniversary . So I take a moment to pause and analyze why . 

Its all too common to find people complaining about their worklives and blogosphere itself is inundated by these hate posts .Suffice it to say that I have a mountain of complaints,frustrations and worries myself which I want to let out too .Important question is , what can be done about this ? Hmm .. I'm stumped . 

Mid life crisis has been in popular parlance for a while now but the latest one is the quarter life crisis . May be that's what's happening .Maybe I need a job change ....or a career change itself . Its prolly time to go back to acads ... or get married and sit at home for good .. There are so many girls who do that cos they can't stand the ordeal anymore , people who were good at studies and wanted careers for themselves .. so whats the way out ?? I dunno .. But I think all people who consider themselves hit by this particular malaise should put their heads together to find the solution . Maybe something might come out of it and actually fix the problem .Ah,wishful thinking ! 

Many of you would suggest ,go follow your dream . This implies that you actually know a course of action to realise your dream which you are consciously resisting for whatever reasons . If that's the case, you ought to be kicked on your behind and be made to see sense. There are other poor souls ,like me , who have financially or otherwise unviable areas of interests - like the creative fields,literature in my particular case. These could be followed as hobbies , but unimaginative workplaces can kill the passion and stoke stress , which is why I can't wait to escape ..only I don't know where to . I would have just shut up and told myself to sort out my problems on my own instead of blogging about it , had I not seen and heard so many other people going through the same problem. Looks to me like some disease that's infecting a lot of people of my generation .

 I have a lot of questions but no answers . But I have this to say to the generation coming after us . If there is some subject you really love in school , go on to college and learn it .Because if you go to one of those run-of-the mill engineering colleges , you will end up with a neatly paying IT job , but you will always keep wanting to go back in time and undo that damned day when you told your parents ,"Alrit people , I will do engineering ok .. now get off me ! " . Pursuing a subject of your liking only can help you realize your true potential and keep you interested in your work ,and remember you will have to work for most parts of your life . I now know that the pursuit of your interests ,no matter how unattractive it may look in terms of money or opportunity, can be quite rewarding . I know this from my younger brother who is learning Physics and I see him spend so much of his time reading books on physics ,talking about the subject and spending All of his hard earned money [he takes tuition for a +2 kid] buying up books .He talks about some uber cool experiments he gets to do as part of his course project and its been an eye opener for me in terms how cool research work really is .. and its all happening right here in Trivandrum . I can see how his interest is leading him on in his pursuit and it is such a pursuit that so many of us covet . My bro's no geek by the way , just followed his passion is all . 

Its very simple really . If there's something you are good at , that Is your pursuit . 

Now if only I could find a way to go back and learn literature !

Anybody knows time travel here ??

4 comments:

Jon said...

no nt exactly...the so called passion may nt be pasion at all when u learn it doesnt feed u enough... makin passion ur livelihhod is dangerous...i did quit an IT comp aftr 3 years..every work sucks to an extent..which company are u in?

Old Monk said...

Well written.
I understand. There are so many aspects which one takes into consideration while opting for a career.In the process you may be forced to take up a career which will bring in financial security which in turn helps you to maintain social(including family)security. I feel that freedom to choose a career of liking which involves risk(I mean financial) depends a lot on how long you can wait(living decently during the period)for money to start flowing in. You must realize that we are living in a world where a person is solely counted on the basis of his pocket. So choices are less. What I suggest is, find some time to wind out...read,write,listen to music and so on. Remember one thing-do consult your dear ones if you plan to quit...life without money is a totally different game. Was off nets for sometime. Will keep in touch now.

manoranjini said...

@Old Monk - Thanks a lot for your kind comments .I was only considering my options and thinking out aloud on the blog ..Lets see how things work out .

Old Monk said...

Manoranjini....
Where are you...?