Let me begin my article with a question for the readers: As you reminisce about your past and think a little bit about your school days, how many of you asked a lot of questions when your teacher taught you a specific lesson or subject matter, being so curious to know more about that specific lesson? If you are such a person who is so curious, who asks a lot of questions, then I would give a big shout out to you all, because it’s not just asking questions, but that portrays how smart and enthusiastic you are in gathering and expanding your knowledge. Now, though we ask a lot of questions, there are situations where others feel so annoyed and start to comment in a pessimistic way, saying that asking too many questions is also not good, just like they start to comment and address us in a way that makes us feel discouraged in front of everyone.
But it is quite obvious that no matter what society comments on how we are staying curious or asking too many questions, it is all about where, as individuals, we find answers for ourselves a lot. Now, asking questions doesn’t mean only the ones that we ask our teachers at school to clarify the subject matter; beyond that, it’s all about revealing the reality in our day-to-day practical life, too. Moreover, more than school life, every one of us at some point enters university life or else gets into employment where, regardless of where we are standing at present, our routine just rotates as a cycle from dawn till dusk. This cycle is obviously a mixture of challenges, obstacles, hardships, barriers, happiness, pressure, etc. Some days feel like the day went well, feeling cherished, while on the other hand, we might fall behind, exhausted with workload, on other days. The reality is this: the more days we feel relaxed, the more we stop complaining and we celebrate; but contrary to this, if things don’t go well, we start complaining and burst out in emotions, feeling disappointed.
Furthermore, I am certain that each of us would have studied “interrogative words” as part of our English subject module, whether in elementary or secondary school, and that we have all used them in our daily lives at some point.
However, these interrogative words, such as “why”, “what”, and “how”, are commonly used in regular conversations. If you ask me, I ask these “why” questions all the time in my routine, usually to ask myself why this is happening to me, why this is troubling me in this way, why I am dealing with this, etc. Trust me, whenever you feel pessimistic in life, maybe about academics, exams, your job, or any other unavoidable circumstances, just ask yourself this question: “Why did I start?” or else, “Why am I doing this?”, “What is it worth doing this for?”, “How can I do this?”
The hard truth behind it goes like this: when we begin something, we stay interested, focused, disciplined, and consistent. We plan our routine properly, stick to it, work the plan, and commence our actions; and when days elapse, sometimes it is quite evident that we may go out of focus, forgetting our goal. I can especially state myself as an example: I may deviate from following my routine plan, feeling like I am falling behind.
If I share with you a recent experience: at university, beyond academics, I engage in a lot of extracurricular activities, just diving my head into all of them as much as I can, but it is to be noted that I might engage only with a purpose, because the moment we engage in something, we might only work for something we wanted to gain at the end of the day. So, when I feel overwhelmed and am pressurising myself because of the workload, I go silent and reminisce: “Why do I engage in all these activities?” and then get some time to organise my work to move forward. This happens in every part of our lives, so my best idea to overcome this issue in life is that every time, just ask yourself, “Why did I start, or else why am I doing this?” or “What is the worth of doing this?”, so you recall the purpose and the goal behind your actions. Then, at the end of the day, we might end up navigating the loop of achievement in everything we do in our lives.
Finally, from my viewpoint, life is all about both success and failure, so behind every success and failure that we encounter, there lies a question. So keep on asking questions, not only about what you want, but also to yourself, to keep yourself moving forward, because every question you raise returns to you with the clarity you were waiting for.
Written By: –
Rtr. Shivani Vasan
(Junior Blog Team Member 2026-27)
