Why do I care what other people think!

Over achievers or Under Achievers??

For a long time in my life I was the idle student: who did his work on time, learnt all things by heart, tried to answer all the questions in class trying to show off my knowledge. In short I got good grades or the best grades. I topped my class for 8 years straight. I was the guy who set the examples for the others. They wished they could be like me, score like me and how I now wish I was not the student I was.
It is a phenomenon. I think it is experienced by lots of toppers or "over achievers" in India. I am going to talk about those people about which people think " man , he could not have it better in life, he has the best grades". He/She is going to make it big. Many of these toppers have had unfulfilled wishes, of the things they wanted to do, the music the wanted to compose, the paintings they wanted to create , the books they wanted to read or the sports they wanted to play But they never did. Because they thought they could lose all they had : because they believed that grades are all that mattered in life. Ever taken one of those free fall rides. They take you on the top and let you go. The feeling that you get in the stomach 1 sec before they let you fall, experience that. Now think that the ride malfunctions and you stay on the top for a very very long time. Not a nice feeling. That is what it feels to be the topper. The fear of falling is so high that you never feel the joys of falling down. This is only my theory but I think you can find lots of these achievers who would validate my gut feeling: of missing out on things. I can not be alone, I am sure about this. It is the affect of society and society moulds its individuals and individuals in turn mould the society.

I had this talk with a swedish professor about 4.6ers and 4.9ers. ( they have cgpas out of 5). This guy told me he had often come across better individuals in research who were 4.6ers than 4.9ers. Now I asked him can you explain why. Now he told me the individuals who have experienced failure and have learned to respond to it are better equipped for it are the ndividuals who succeed in research. Then he said and it is usually the case that the 4.6ers have experienced more failure. But he also said that in the 4.6ers there are people who like doing a lot then knowing a lot. You could know a lot and do nothing with it. But then i asked him " How can you stand those peopl who like knowing a lot but do nothing with it.?". Then he remarked : "It is there nature they like knowing a lot, they can not help it. Why should I care then?". Meeting this man made my day.

But this is my request to all the people who belonged to this category of "over achievers" once. You must have surely missed out on some things. Start doing them now. It is never too late. If you lost contact with your old friends coz you were too busy with the books, Call them up. If you missed out on playing : start playing. DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING. You may not become what you could have had you started out earlier. But it will open upto you ways of living you thought were never possible.

What are you waiting for?

posted by inhas @ 10:20 PM