bhaskar saikia

There is a simple, almost brutal equation that life quietly teaches us:

Desire is directly proportional to pain.
The more deeply we want something, the more intensely we suffer in its pursuit. A small wish brings a small ache. A burning desire brings a fire of restlessness, uncertainty, fear, and longing. And sometimes, it even brings heartbreak.

Yet here is the paradox: What is life without desires?

A life without desire would be painless, yes—but it would also be colorless.

Desire is the spark that pushes us forward when everything else feels still. It is the invisible engine that makes a person wake up early, work late, dream boldly, love fiercely. Desire makes the heart stretch beyond its comfort zone and touch the edges of possibility.

Pain is simply the shadow cast by that stretching.

When I was a teenager, I came across a line whose author I no longer remember, but it carved itself into my mind: “I fear not of dreaming big and failing, but I fear of dreaming small and achieving it.”

Only later did I understand the truth inside it: Big desires come with big pain—but small desires come with a bigger regret.

If you desire love, you risk loneliness.

But without that desire, you never taste connection.

If you desire growth, you face discomfort.

But without it, you remain stagnant.

If you desire excellence, you meet failure again and again.

But without that desire, you never rise above the ordinary.

Pain, therefore, is not punishment—it is proof of human longing. It is the toll we pay for caring about something deeply. And strangely, the things that hurt us most are often the things that shape us the most.

A life without desire might be peaceful. But it would be a peace of emptiness, not fulfillment.

To desire is to hope.
To hope is to risk.
To risk is to hurt.
But to hurt is to know you’re alive.

So we keep desiring—not because we enjoy the pain, but because we understand that pain is the price of a meaningful life. It reminds us that our hearts are still working, still dreaming, still reaching for something more.

In the end, the question isn’t how to avoid desire.
The real question is: What desires are worth the pain?

Choose the ones that grow you.
Choose the ones that make your soul expand.
Choose the ones that honour that teenage version of you who was unafraid to dream big.

For in that choice lies the true art of living.