@25...Here I am...This is me..!!!

Gosh!!! You turned 25…Shounak Banerjee…happy b’day to you!!!

I’ve thought so many times over the last year about this particular blog post. About what I’d say and how I’d feel. I didn’t realize it would be quite this emotional.

For once in my life, it seems that words aren’t quite adequate. I have so much I want to communicate, and yet I’ve rewritten these first couple of sentences a dozen times already.

I should start by looking at that list which I wrote back when I was just 24, to see how many things I’ve managed to tick off. After all, that was kind of the point of this blog.

But you’ll remember, dear Reader, that I take exception to the word “should”. And besides, even though I’ve achieved almost all of my original goals, somehow that doesn’t seem quite as important any more. I had questioned myself at 24 “So why not take an experimental (rather than an existential) view of life and ask the far more important question – what do I want to do here?” (http://addadilse.blogspot.com/2010/11/24the-question-is-why-am-i-here.html)

As I think about my birthday, I realise that my feelings about the last few days echo my feelings about the last year in general, and indeed my life so far.

I took a brave decision to come out of my previous job as it was IT and I wanted to be in core. Now it feels great to live my dream. I am doing what I love and getting handsomely paid for it, really sums up the satisfaction.

My mental strength helped me get over with my past and now I have even learnt to hit back at others. Offence is the best form of defence. And it’s better to face a problem than to ignore it!!!

Of course, I’ve also got friends to see and a birthday night doing a night shift at my office with two rats to accompany me. But then, there’s always something to do, isn’t there?

Looking back over the two and half decades I’ve spent on this earth, there have been a lot of achievements that I’m proud of. I would say that I’ve lived my life to the full, and have no regrets that start with “I wish I had…”

The trick is to carve out those bits of time where you can achieve the goals that mean something, that are just for you, otherwise you can end up just surviving rather than really living.

And yet the most important element of my life is the people who I’ve known and loved and been loved by...

So thank you to all of you who have got me to where I am today. I couldn’t have done it without you – I wouldn’t want to have done it without you – and I am so excited about all the years we have to share together in the future.

cheers!!!