Last weekend i was thinking about, what my next 5 years should look like. I reflected that i lived 2 completely different lives in last 10 years. One way of living was from 2009-2014, then a completely different one from mid 2014 to 2019.
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From 2009 to 2014, In my BUET days- i have lived a completely ‘journey driven’ life. I was on a trance to enjoy my life as much as i can. I made friends who are worth taking a bullet for, i travelled many corners of the country and around the world, i learnt debating, i learnt magic and did dangerous illusions in front of thousands of people, organized countless club/department/batch programs . Most importantly , none of them i did for any personal achievement or for impressing anyone. I did them, because i enjoyed them and i was in love with the process. As i look back everyday seemed like an Eid day then. But living like this had some consequences. I had little to no academic achievement. Upon graduation i had mediocre results and poor programming skills. I felt i did not do any justice to my merits & should have lead a more ‘goal oriented’ life.
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Hence, chasing goals became my life mantra since 2014.In next 5 years, I have learnt to push my own limits time and time again, to achieve the next shiny new thing. Since 2014, I have collected accolades in programming, in cyber security, in magic, in powerlifting, in startup arena, in tv shows. I have said yes to 80 hour work-weeks, to late night coding/studying. I have chased acquiring skills, chased deadlines, chased opportunities, chased deals, chased promotions, chased hikes income/profit. But in chasing every next goals with such aggression, i have forgot to take a break, travel, date and many more. In summary i did not give myself much time to enjoy the ‘little things’ in my life. The constant hustle has taken a lot of happiness out of my life.
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I had this realization that our goals/destinations are illusions. It happens in the future/past. Our journey happens right now, it is the only real thing. Destination is a fixed dot, journey connects those dots. If we are too caught up in reaching the destination- we miss out on the real thing- the journey, enjoying the moment.
After 5 years of being an aggressive destination driven person, i think it is time to shift some gears and bring some balance in next 5 years of my life. I plan to enjoy the ‘little things’ in my life as much as chasing the big lofty goals. I hope to put the travel shoes more often. I hope to find a loving life partner. I hope to do more magic shows. . I want to give more time to fitness. Rather than only learning myself, i want to share my little knowledge with the community and also learn from them. And i want to give back more than i take, in general.
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Long story short, i want to focus on enjoying the journey as much as focusing on reaching lofty destinations.

(Excerpts from my personal diary: dated 11 October, 2019)