Is success a necessity

[Music]

in

elementary middle school a common

question that we’re all asked at some

point

is at one po at some point at some point

is what do you want to be

when you grow up and as a kid we

sometimes give very bizarre

answers like i at that age want to be

the red power ranger when i grew up

and to this day i still secretly do i’m

hoping it works out

however for the most part being

unburdened by adulthood and stress

kids answer the question what they’re

truly passionate it could range from

lawyer

to athlete to artists the sky is the

limit

however if you ask the question to the

same kid years later when he or she is

in high school

you’ll notice the answers change the

professions they want to be now aren’t

the same ones they wanted to be when

they were a kid

now it’s doctors stockbroker engineer

overall

high earning renowned successful career

professions

and this transformation we take from

elementary school

to high school begs the question

why do we feel the need to partake in

careers that we’re not interested in

and what was wrong with our original

career choices

why is being successful more important

than pursuing your dreams

my name is rahul guhan and we’ll explore

that together today

when i was a kid i want to be an

elementary school teacher when i grew up

i just thought it was one of the most

meaningful things anyone can be

and i specifically wanted to be an

elementary school teacher

because i’d be able to teach kids and as

i said before kids see the world in a

very positive light they see it for what

it could be

so i want to teach those type of kids

so whenever anyone asked me that

question i would say i would want to be

an elementary school teacher

and when adults ask you this question

when you’re young they just accept any

answer you give because they don’t

expect any serious thing from you since

you’re a kid

however throughout the years i noticed

that my answer was accepted

less and less people’s faces would be

disappointed like i had the wrong answer

to the question

yes the wrong answer for what i wanted

to

do in my life i didn’t know there was a

wrong answer that age

they had a stigma associated with the

profession i chose and what they

expected me to say was like i said

doctor stockbroker engineer

and this continuous and continuous

disapproval and my answer made me feel

like i was going the wrong path with my

life and there’s one fixed path i had to

follow

like everyone else did

and that’s exactly what i did i ditched

the teacher dream and i tried to throw

myself at a profession that was remotely

successful

i took a bunch of computer science

classes with the hope maybe i’ll become

a programmer even though i know i do not

like coding

i took a bunch of science classes with

the hope and maybe one day i’ll become a

doctor even though

i know i hate i do not want to be doctor

i hate blood and everything that comes

with it

overall i was trying to be something

that i clearly wasn’t

and these two three years was a very

hard and dark time in my life because

every day i woke up feeling like i

didn’t have control over the life i was

living i felt as if i was living my life

for somebody else day after day and

the toll it has on you is that it makes

you just go through the actions every

day makes you more tempered than usual

makes you demotivated and the parts of

you that were special start showing less

and less

before all of this i used to be the most

positive and happiest guy there was i

was the funniest guy in the classroom

i was the guy with the biggest smile on

his face

but now i just stay in my room most of

the time i would not smile as much

and i would just be angry with anyone i

talked to

and this lack of control in my decisions

carried over to extracurriculars in high

school too

i felt i had to join the clubs like

speech and debate and key club that

would look good my college resume

despite me having no interest in them

whatsoever

but one day i had an idea ever since i

was in second grade i’ve been learning

and performing bollywood dance

it’s a big part of who i am as a person

and something i thoroughly enjoy

so i thought why not why not start a

bollywood dance club at carroll high

it will give some much-needed diversity

into the school campus and it’s a big

part of who i am

and it would allow me to do something i

actually finally enjoy

i knew off the bat it wouldn’t be easy

to create this club and take it to the

level of speech and debating key club

not because you’re only starting a club

from scratch but because of the

stereotypes that surrounded the club

i started the club in 2017 so my

sophomore year of high school

and at that time carol wasn’t very

diverse so because of that students

weren’t very welcoming to a club like

this

every friday from 3 45 to 4 30 our club

would practice in the cafeteria

and every friday during that time people

would mock us take videos of us to send

to their friends

and just ridicule us and i would have to

start practice only after everyone left

so the members i did have

would feel secure and every year we went

to club fairs to get more

people to join the club and every year

people would come up to our club booth

and

mock us in front of us mimikar dancing

and they would write

fake names on the attendance sheet or

their friends names this sort of

punishment

and for the first two years of the club

we only had six to eight people to join

not because of a lack of interest but

because people thought they’d be

immediately deemed as not cool if they

joined

overall the point i’m trying to make

here is that the club was put in a very

tough spot to succeed

at at any point i could have said the

logical point of action is to leave the

club

and go to something that my efforts

won’t be wasted and i know would look

good on my college resume

but despite all the challenges and all

the obstacles the club had i couldn’t

bring myself to leave it because

it finally let me feel like myself again

that confident funny positive person

came back every friday

from 3 45 to 4 30 and even if it was for

a little bit i loved feeling like my old

self again

there’s not a greater feeling than that

that bollywood dance club was the first

step of the life that i’m supposed to

live

and the first step into the life that i

want for myself

and i’m continuing to take that first

step to this very day

i hope everyone in this room also takes

that first step too

it’s incredibly hard but there’s nothing

more worthwhile and satisfying

than doing what brings you joy live the

life you love

thank you

you