IIT Kharagpur: Why an IITian loses focus, and the purpose of life

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): During our preparation for IIT JEE, we had to pass through a phase where we were not socializing much in order to focus on our studies. But as soon as we enter IIT, we are faced with a scenario where we are required to be a social person, we need to make friends, and we need to have someone to listen to our problems. But being a loner for a long time puts a lot of stress on me to adopt that habit of being a social person again, and that is affecting my mental health. So, how to overcome this habit of not expressing ourselves?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Didn’t you have problems when you were preparing for JEE? What happened then? Who did you go to speak to?

Q: Generally, we used to go to our teachers because it was a competitive environment, and we used to feel that talking to a teacher is the best thing. But right now, we mostly talk first to our friends, and then to a teacher if it is a major issue.

AP: Okay, let me ask you one thing: How driven and focused did you feel at the time of JEE preparation? Now that you have cleared the JEE, you are in a good position to say how driven you were.