I've cracked the famous interview question

For the longest time, whenever I would be asked, "where do you see yourself in 5 years?", my mind would stray away.
The beauty of human imagination is that it is unrestricted. A thought is swift enough to traverse wide enough.
I would wonder if it is a luxury car, a big house, frequent travelling, ability to lay my hands on high end brands, adequate career progression that would give me momentary happiness today in thinking that I aspire to have all these things in 5 years.
Adversely, these thoughts would put me in a place of anxiety and stress. It is as if I was going down a rabbit hole of endless desires, how much is to much anyway?

Although having defined goals serve as motivation, delay or deviation in the plans attract negative emotions.

One day as I sat down, I pictured myself giving up on the privilege of phone, internet, relationships, materialistic pleasures and living a life engulfed in nothing but peace.
My love for the Ladakh mountains is coupled with my liking for living like a monk, sans any worldly pleasures. Draped in nothing but shades of saffron and red, meditating in the morning and teaching my favourite subjects, English and Geography to elementary school students by afternoon.
The whole idea of living without expectations and desires feels like a breath of relief as opposed to the chocking caused by the pressure to meet self and societal timelines.
Suddenly the much anticipated question has managed to soothe my soul and give me a purpose rather than triggering a sequence of self doubt and other challenging emotions.
The mountains always call and this time, I will go.