Inspiration - The Reason Behind FEEL
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We live in a world where nothing is impossible – we have millions of careers to choose from, we know more about the science of wellbeing than ever before, and we have global opportunities at our fingertips.
Yet, our youth are more confused, less happy and less fulfilled than before.
I, too, faced this contradiction while growing up – there was so much to do, but so little time to do it or even to understand it. The phrase that accurately summed it up was ‘spoiled for choice’. Year after year, I could see my seniors and juniors leave their passions for their future professions, choose studies based on ‘popular choice’ and peer pressure, and ‘like’ memes on social media as way of getting support and validation for their feelings of anxiety. The problems were widespread, and the solutions seemed to fall short.
The popular option of career counselling was based on someone reading about the field and someone else basing their life decisions simply by hearing about it. Perhaps an automated score would tell us our ‘aptitude’, but there was no chance of us questioning, exploring, practicing or improving in a field before ever joining it. If we wanted to connect with famous people in their field directly we either had to comb through our parents’ past connections, sit for mass-seminars, or look up their speeches on the internet – all these options seemed either too difficult or too easy to be worth it, and we conveniently let them fall, preferring to go with the ‘safe’ choices of doctor (in science), CA (in commerce), or designer (in arts).
Even extra-curricular activities were part of our lives only up to a certain age. But once again, they were the generic ones of drawing, dancing or tennis. And usually around standard 8, we were asked to drop them and focus on our studies. We didn’t have the opportunity to explore new activities like aerial yoga or tai chi without commitment or exorbitant fees, to question why our passions and professions could not merge, or have the whole world offered to us under one roof. This loss of an outlet for our creativity, freedom and expression would harm us more than we could imagine and take away vital stress-busting, life-balancing skills.
Till now, I am yet to come across a youngster who doesn’t struggle with anxiety or overthinking or depression on a daily basis. In my experience, these are met with two extreme responses: One, this is not-normal, its all in your head: Two, it is very normal, it happens to everyone, you just have to learn to live with it. But secretly, we all yearn for a third option – yes, it’s normal, and yes, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can learn how to grow out of it, because your happiness and peace of mind are not overrated.
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While growing up, I felt the lack of these resources in my own life and realised that the batches of students above and below me had experienced the same. Keeping this in mind, I decided to start an organisation that could bridge that gap and connect those who had ‘been there, done that’ with those who wanted to ‘go there, and do that’.
To help me in this endeavour, I approached over 30 Founders, CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Managing Partners, Educationists and Youth Leaders who readily agreed to come together under one roof to build the 3 pillars of Education, Empowerment and Living in our students, through the FEEL Ascend Program.
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