SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY Not A Destination !- By Shreya Rao- Miss India Andra Pradesh 2018

What are we looking for in life ?
What is the ultimate goal ? 
What is that we are waiting to finally achieve ?

       I was someone who was always PUZZLED when a question on my goal / ambition was asked. I thought there was something absolutely wrong with me, when my friends confidently filled in slam books and wrote down what exactly their ambition was in life .!!!

      Yes, I’m talking about those school days..when my friends knew (at least thought they knew what they’d be doing 10 to 15years later in life ). There were times when I filled up something too . But then realised that NO .. this is not what I wana be, this is me lying to myself about who I want to be. But at the same time didn’t know what I’d be or was aspiring to be. Trust me I still do not know, still figuring out my PATH and GOALS in life. Who knows what exactly they want in life ? Who knows what they’d be satisfied with ?

 Are you sure you just have one goal or aim in life ?

        I think LIFE IS ALL ABOUT these short term goals or aims that we set.. so what if I wanted to be a doctor/ engineer / Architect .. these are all short term goals as well.. what next once you’ve finished 4 or 5 years of graduation .. u got your degree and got a Dr./ Engineer or Ar. as a prefix ? Are u done with life ?
No.. it’s one of the many aims in life that you want to achieve someday ..So What about the journey after ? What about the journey till then ? Only focus on books, making sheets, completing assignment and bodies to cut ? Definitely NOT ! It is the journey of how I became THAT PERSON holding a degree that I earned in college and also a person that I’ve grown to be .. the lives I’ve touched, the people I met and friends I made, the knowledge I gathered, the group activities, the small fights,the little joys of excelling in some papers and flunking in a few tests, disturbing lecturers, begging for extra marks & attendance, bunking classes, annoying friends, celebrating birthdays, attending or organising college feasts.

       We live in a world with unlimited opportunities .. unlimited things to do.. unlimited places to travel to.. unlimited food to taste.. unlimited people to meet.. unlimited things to learn.. but just in ONE LIFE! I know right .. pretty unfair ! But why not make the most of it .. do all that we can in just this one life given to you & me ?
       We definitely can. We just have to take decisions along the path (hopefully the right ones) .. and shape our lives as we want it to be and finally reach a destination.. a final destination called HAPPINESS!

      Enjoying this path or journey is what is more important than what u finally achieve. As they say SUCCESS IS THE JOURNEY, not just the destination. The happiness when u hold a doctors degree by just slogging the whole of 5 years just being around books would be much greater if you’ve enjoyed the 5 years, have had broken relationships, have made friends for a lifetime, cheated in your exams once in a while, made memories for yourself and others who were a part of your journey. Your smile when u hold that degree would be much wider if you’ve enjoyed those 5 years of hard work.

   Going back to the era of slam books, want to know what I had written back then ? I wrote a very generic but a suitable answer (I still don’t believe I wrote this back in my early teens) that I’d want to become someone who my parents would be proud of! Pretty good han ? And now when I look back, I say spot on, that is my goal in life, anything and everything I do id wana see my parents proud of their daughter and a small addition to it being.. that I’d do it with all my heart and enjoy the process of reaching the aim.

   Being aimless is certainly not the idea here .. HAPPINESS comes to you when you are having these short term aims with probably a big goal to achieve in life, while enjoying the process of reaching it.
Hence, you ENJOY THE JOURNEY YOU ENJOY THE DESTINATION you reach. Cuz a destination can be made more beautiful by making the journey to it as BEAUTIFUL.

By

Shreya Rao