Goals? None for me.

One of the perks of print media is that people tend to know each other and so interviews don't take on a very traditional form. They are casual conversations. And so, I've had to sit for only a handful of interviews in my life. That has changed now what with needing a job and all. But here's something that gets to me each time.

"What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I get that the answer to these questions will give you a sense of the kind of person you might be employing, but I find it to be such a pointless question. Do people really have goals anymore? How can they?

In 2012, my 'goal' was to study law and become one of many with an LLB. But then, I ended up giving up on this goal and got drawn into the world of print media. A year into it, I was the editor of the youth tabloid, again, not something I ever saw myself doing. Three years later, I was unemployed, but following a bachelor's in social sciences.

In 2016, I ended up writing for a business management magazine, despite swearing I would never write articles related to business or sports (I also wrote a few articles for a sports magazine). A year later, I was the editor of a youth tabloid for another Sunday newspaper and in 2019, the editor for a youth tabloid of yet another Sunday newspaper.

None of these aligned with those goals I had in 2012, but they eventually led me to the post of features editor, a job I left this year. And in the meantime, I managed to complete that bachelor's in social sciences and start a master's in development studies and public policy - again, not something I ever planned on doing.

I also started a super small scale baking business, an Instagram page for doodles, writing stories for a children's tabloid, and even worked on a children's book with an amazing illustrator. Were these things I thought I would be doing a few years ago? No.

In 2019, checkpoints sprung up in Colombo once again. Having your bags checked became the norm. Things we thought we left behind in 2009. A year later, we were wearing masks and keeping our distance and treating anyone with a cough like a leper. We went weeks without seeing our friends or being around other people.

In 2023, I felt betrayed by my body. I underwent tests I've sworn I won't subject myself to ever again. I realised that it wasn't enough to complete treatment and have a doctor scribble 'no complaints' on a piece of paper every month at first and now every other month, because my body would take time to go back to what it was - if it ever does.

And since then, I've felt betrayed, hurt, lonely, confused, but also happy, excited, loved. I've made friends and I've lost friends. I've danced in public, with strangers. I've sung my heart out. I've done things I never thought I would do and I've not done things I always thought I would do.

Life is such, isn't it? It's so unpredictable. You never know what's next, so forget the next five years. I don't even have any goals for this year.

I realise that this is a disappointing answer in the context of an interview, but dear lord, why would you want someone who lives by goals that they may not even want to achieve a month from now? What does a person with goals guarantee that a person without goals doesn't? I'd honestly like to know.