I NEED PEAK MENTAL FITNESS TO CREATE GOOD STORIES

Celebrated writer Chetan Bhagat offered his perspective on the significance of mental robustness. Excerpts:

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I have worn many professional hats, and in college, I was an engineering student, so most of my friends were engineering types.... I study people.... My main interest has been understanding their mental states and how they think. You could say I have spent a lifetime researching the mind, because it helps me write better stories. The byproduct is that I also understand how people function internally—how their mental health shapes their lives. Some of my friends are legitimate billionaires—founders of some of the biggest companies who came out of IIT Delhi. And they are billionaires, meaning they actually have a billion dollars to their name. And yet, some of them are not happy. I know at least one who has taken anti-depression medication after becoming a billionaire. I feel like slapping them. How can you be rich and not be happy? How can you be allowed to be unhappy? So I have seen film stars through the films that I was involved in. And some of the film stars are not happy. Some of them are taking drugs.

Why? Why are you taking drugs? Life has given you everything. So clearly fame, beauty, which they have, is not enough. Clearly, money is not enough.