bhaskar saikia

“Ambitious people suffer from acute pain; non-ambitious people suffer from chronic pain.
Acute pain is better — if one knows how to survive the storm.
It’s living with chronic pain that makes life truly pathetic.
Hence, be ambitious.”
— Bhaskar Saikia

I wrote this line long ago, but its meaning has deepened over time. Back then, it was just an observation — a way to make sense of the struggle between desire and comfort. Today, I see it as a quiet truth about how we live and what we choose to endure.

Pain is inevitable. The difference lies in the kind of pain we accept. Ambitious people, those who chase dreams and follow their callings, face storms — failures, doubts, moments of exhaustion. Their pain is sharp, immediate, and consuming — acute. But once the storm passes, they emerge changed. There’s growth in the ache, light in the struggle.

Non-ambitious people, on the other hand, avoid the storm. They seek safety in predictability, hoping to escape pain altogether. Yet in doing so, they invite another kind of suffering — a quiet, persistent ache of unfulfilled potential. That pain doesn’t scream; it settles. It becomes chronic, a slow erosion of one’s spirit. And that, I’ve always felt, is far worse.

But when I speak of ambition, I don’t mean competition. I’ve never believed in measuring myself against others, because no one can truly understand my desires and aspirations — just as I can’t fully understand theirs. Our goalposts are different, drawn by different dreams.

To be ambitious is not to compete, but to pursue courageously. It means having the strength to follow one’s own rhythm, one’s own vision — to take that uncertain road simply because your heart says, this is mine. It’s not about being the best; it’s about being true.

Ambition is not a contest; it’s a calling. It is the fire that burns, yes — but it also lights the path ahead. The pain it brings is temporary, purposeful, alive. The pain of complacency, however, lasts a lifetime.

And so, even after all these years, the line I once wrote still whispers the same truth to me: between the storm and the stillness, choose the storm — for in its heart, you may just find yourself.