Read the account of corporate man Arunaabh who overturned his life by choosing fitness over the office. He was the first Indian to run the Ultraman, in Australia.
I stared at dimly lit screen. The lights in the office reminded me of a grim hospital operation theatre… I closed my eyes and wondered for the 1000th time: “Why am I here?”
My dilemma was hardly unique. Almost every white collar graduate who enters the corporate world feels this way, at some time or another. Mine was just a little different.
Corporate life was stifling
For starters, I had a “life”. Every morning, I woke at 5 am, laced up my shoes and picked up my bike for a good workout, before heading to my office. The rest of the day was a blur, since corporate life is sad. Days are never-ending.
Reaching the office by 10 am meant leaving home at 8. By the time I got back at night, it was 11:30 PM. There was no extra pay for the overtime, and Saturdays didn’t exist. I began to count the hours in the week. Sure, it was a paying job, but at what cost?
Moving full time to fitness
Before I entered the corporate world, I worked in various sports-related jobs and also participated in the Ironman a few times. I was an Assistant Coach for Trianewlife Coaching and also a sponsored athlete, by Brands like Garmin, Fast & Up, Adidas, Nike, Puma and Unived. Also, I worked as a pacer in the Nike Running Club for Nike Ad Campaigns, and a Protocol Liaison Officer for Gibraltar in the Commonwealth Games 2010.
Running and fitness was in my blood, and staying in a job that didn’t allow me the freedom to pursue my dreams seemed like a dead-end idea. So I decided to take a leap and apply for a Masters in Sports Administration, to AISTS in Lausanne.
For the uninitiated, AISTS is a premier college for Sports Management. It takes 40 students out of 400 applicants which include ex-professional athletes, people with Sports Businesses, even IIT students. The average age of students is 28. So what chance did I- a IPU graduate, IT worker, and fitness buff have?
Running the Ultraman
After I put in my application, I did the Ultraman. And I became the 1st Indian Male to do it, to run on an Australian beach, with the Indian flag on my shoulders. It was thrilling to prove that despite horrible training conditions, being a corporate slave and a million other hurdles, I could live my dream. My victory was just the beginning of a new phase in life. A month later, I got admission to AISTS.
Life finally changed for the better
For ages, I had sat through performance reviews and informal meetings with people who had done nothing but sucked up to officials and stayed in a decaying rut. They drank their life away, told themselves that all was well, and told me that I wasn’t “focused at work”.
I did what I had to, endured the pain, sucked it up, and never quit. And I never will. And that’s what I hope for everyone of you. Go out. Find something you love. Go do it, no matter how hard the path is. And NEVER GIVE UP. Yes, it will be very tough. But it is a part of your journey.
“To invent your life’s meaning is never easy, but it is allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble” – Bill Watterson.