From College Dorm to Training Room
A story about how I revisited My Ultimate Goal: Part-1
It was a normal day.
A lazy summer afternoon.
I was in the college premises, though not attending any class. I bunked the last two classes of the day and, with one of my friends, was scouring the hallways, eyes peeled for a hidden refuge, some corner that wasn’t shady but quiet. We steered clear of the canteen as it was a perpetual hive of our watchful Dean.
Then we crossed off the library, its sterile air too suffocating for our rebellious plans. The courtyard was a tempting prospect, but the watchful gaze of the professors made us think twice. After a thorough search of 10 minutes, we finally found a perfect spot and parked ourselves on the staircase towards the terrace.
Once we settled onto the pleasantly cold concrete steps, we started with his lunch. His mom was a great cook, and she used to prepare delicious mouthwatering delicacies, which he was supposed to finish two hours ago, but to my delight, hadn’t.
As the deliciousness fueled our system, the dead brain cells surged back to life. And as we savored off the last crumb, we lost ourselves in a labyrinth of random topics. It’s one of the many magical qualities of friendship — you can talk about any random topic without thinking or getting judged, and the discussion on that topic will be as serious as if the fate of the world is dependent on it.
Suddenly he asked: “What is that one thing you want to achieve in your life which you think is unachievable?”
“What’s your ‘The Ultimate Goal’?”
As soon as he asked it, the answer hit me. And then came many others. It is normal for me to have multiple thoughts on the same thing. I am a master Overthinker with a “Capital O”.
My thoughts are like stubborn hitchhikers, due to which my single thought usually comes with many others piggybacking on it. What wasn’t usual this time was that somehow, I was able to filter them down and reach the answer that resonated with me the most. It was the very first one. I didn’t answer the question right away, as I wanted to hear from him first, but I knew that the very first thought that came into my mind was the real answer for me.
His answer was simple, “I don’t consider anything unachievable. It might be hard as hell, but nothing is impossible, even impossible spells “I M POSSIBLE”. But you must work for it with an honest heart”.
“Is it practical?” I asked.
“Not necessarily, but it doesn’t make it impossible. It means you might not be the one to achieve it, but someone somewhere has achieved it. And they aren’t the only ones, as many others will follow.”
My boy was a highly motivated individual. He still is, and I love him for that.
My answer, well, that was still in my mind. The other thing about the discussion between friends is that, for some reason, the topics get changed in a fraction of a second too. The same thing happened with this topic as well. This time the reason was external though. Our dean was on a round, and we had to change our spot hastily to avoid getting seen by him. That was the main reason why we were not at the canteen. And in this rush, the topic switched from achieving the impossible to where to go next.
Ultimately, with our dean-dodging mission complete, we bid farewell and opted to go back to our homes. But the question stayed with me, and so did the answer. I had another discussion on this question at night. This time with my overthinking mind. Trust me, I do it a lot. My mind wrestled with the question for a while and I reached the same answer, which brought me a sense of satisfaction, and with a calm mind, finally, I dozed off.
The next morning, it was a new day, hence, the old discussion went on the back burner and some new discussion took the lead and life resumed its rhythm.
A few years passed; the answer tucked away in a quiet corner of my mind, a dormant thought waiting for the right spark. Life went on as usual. I had a few achievements in my life along with a few hiccups as well. Amid these ups and downs, I joined a new organization.
In the bustling training room of my new organization, surrounded by new and curious faces, I felt it flicker back to life. Done with the formal part of the training, we were chatting with our trainer who was going to introduce us to his “one last trick” — a game of personal revelation.
“What’s your ultimate goal?” the question echoed through the room.
And then, the long-dormant conversation with my friend, simmering on the back burner, suddenly erupted into a vivid memory.
The training room buzzed with nervous excitement. Laughter from my new colleagues drifted by, but my focus was inward. My mind started playing with me and a torrent of thoughts came crashing down. Public speaking doesn’t bother me anymore. It used to, a lot, but with time I started to get comfortable with this. This is a different scenario though. Here, professionalism held sway, it’s a speaker’s responsibility to be aware of their audience and read the room. I already knew the answer, but was this the right stage for its debut? You don’t arrive at a pool party in your tuxedo after all. Yet, the thought of burying it again felt unbearably wrong.
And then, I heard my trainer’s voice: “Shreesh! Why don’t you start it?”.
Whoopsie! Guess I am the one who is starting it. Think, Shreesh! Think! Come on mind! Think of something. I have not only to talk on the topic, but I have to lead the activity as well.
My mind, my trusty pal, decided to be a trickster friend at that moment, and was booming with a single thought — “Let’s roll with the long pending answer of our old discussion”. The imaginary walls of the imaginary room of my mind were echoing the same thought again and again, not letting me think of anything else. Lost in this conversation with myself, I heard my trainer’s voice again:
“Shreesh! Shall we?”
And then I decided, it was time to revisit it. It might be a bit on a personal side, but this event isn’t the typical office event. And I am allowed to share my thoughts here. You must be thinking, “Why is he making a fuss about it? It’s just a simple discussion!”. But as I have already established, I am the king of Overthinking. Read that Overthinking in whatever superlative term you can think of. That’s me.
Anyway, I was ready to start with my answer, which I have been holding for years. I had thought about it and discussed it with myself many times, but this was the first time I was going to put it in public. So, I took center stage, got the attention of my audience and after completing the formalities I said:
My ultimate goal in my life, which I also think is next to impossible, is:
“To be able to discuss every topic in this world.”
So that’s how I pushed myself to finally address the long pending discussion that I had in my college days. That too in front of a big audience. But, this discussion is still not over as it turned out to be a long conversation between me and my audience. I will discuss those conversations in detail in Part-2 of this post.
Stay tuned for it.
So, what do you think? Did you like my story? Is it something you agree with?
Tell me in the comments.
Thank you for reading. I hope you like it.
Till next time.
Shreesh, Signing off!
