Of Goals, Distractions and Inspirations

My second year exams ended a couple of days ago. And instead of watching mindless movies and unnecessary shopping, I decided to read a book and chanced upon "The last lecture" by Randy Pausch. Unlike most netizens out there, I had never heard of either the person or the amazing last lecture. But by the time I was done with the book (which is precisely fifteen minutes ago), I began seeing my life in a whole new light.

Now, I am neither going to go over the details of this book nor summary the lecture here. If you haven't heard of it, just Google it up. I am here to write about what it made me realize. It made me take a stroll in the memory lane. It took me to the time where dreams were simple and silly, where the innocent mind of a child not knowing whether a dream was feasible or not, dreamt of the impossible anyway. And more than anything else, it made me realize how I have neglected those dreams. Frankly, not just those, but also the ones I made as a teenager. And how I have been living the life of a zombie- walking like the dead, day in and day out.

Life is a culmination of many wonderful  "moments". It takes a moment to fall in love, and a moment to snap out of it. It takes a moment to make a friend and a moment to be betrayed. And for the last couple of years, I haven't had too many of these moments.

I had hopes, high hopes at that; and I had goals, big ones too. And then I got distracted, big time! All my goals were swept under the carpet, all the dreams were forgotten and I continued enjoying the distraction. And by the time the distraction ditched me, I was so attached to it, that I remained distracted some more thinking how could the distraction dump me so. Yes, that is how the story is!

But, Dr. Pausch here, may he rest in peace, made me pull out those swept away dreams from under the proverbial carpet. He made me realize the importance of time, and how one fine day some guy in a white coat might just come and say "your time is about to be up soon, kid".

Life is too short to be wasting. And no matter how much people tell you that everything happens in the virtual world now- shopping online, meeting new people online, "hanging out" online- take it from me, all you remember of the "incredible" time you had online is a blurr of you, your fingers flying on the keyboard and your eyes glued to the monitor. Pretty hard to make "moments" with just you and your computer, won't you agree? Pretty hard to turn dreams into reality that way too, while we are at it.

It takes a "moment" to get inspired, but somehow I have seen this moment coming toward me for quite a few days now and today it finally hit me. Inspiration is very, very strong. It urges you to work for the seemingly impossible and finally achieve it. It makes you go to crazy levels to get what you want. But most importantly, it teaches you how to live life. It reminds you of your priorities and how happy you were when you had them straight.

I think I have come to a full circle now. I know I had thought I had come to a full circle a hundred times before. The difference? Well, I am writing about it this time, whereas earlier I would just sleep on it and forget it in the morning.

So, here's to how picking up a random book from a friend's bookshelf after a fortnight of exams, instead of relaxing you, pushes you to work harder than ever before to be a somebody, to fulfill the goals you set long ago, to achieve the dreams that a part of your brain says is silly, but the rest is still holding on to. Here is to chances, and miracles, and moments!!