Why be so stressed?

After the "Adventures of Chaman", comes the much awaited story of the guy I hate and love the most

Am I a part of a race? When did I start running? Who pushed me in? I did not sign up for any race, then why am I running? And being punished when I am exhausted and rest for a breath? I don’t know what is happening but I am sure that many of the people on this planet are running and failing to run in turn. And all this converges to money and fame. Why is it so? What is it in becoming famous? When I go home and my family encourages me to study well so that is become a good person become famous and make money, I dare not ask why? This is the rule and we have to follow it. This race has tired our feet and we are so exhausted that we only stare at the ground, not looking at where is this road heading to?

This post of mine is a spontaneous motivation, triggered by the chain of events that have happened in the past few hours. I was talking to the Bass guitarist of my hostel, who is an attaché and because of the special request of our music rep, agreed to play in the competition on Friday. This was only the second day into the practice, which is not at all a healthy sign for our chances in the competition and this guy, the Bass guitarist is a kind of a geek and stressed out guy, the one who is the only one of his guy, the guy you would want to not talk to (at least for me and I hope he is not reading this). He missed an A last semester by 0.3 marks and despite the fact that nothing could be done and it was only by chance that he was the first one among the A- ones to have got it, he was so upset, he kept mocking the professor felt guilty at not performing well. He says that he is performing very badly, his CGPA being only 9.02 and he thinks all the time that he is not up to the mark. This is a good thing about him and I really appreciate it, but what I do not appreciate about him is this. He comes to my room when I am studying or doing something very important and he starts talking rubbish and tries to make fun out of anything (I can assure you that when he does that, he looks nothing better than an Orang Utan and I get really frustrated).

But what he did today was out of the mind.

We were discussing internships after second year and he was disappointed that despite being a brilliant student, his bag was still empty. He enquired about some other guys in our department (we are both in the same department), and I told him that many of them have grabbed outstanding internships outside India; he went again to that A- mode. You could get the expression of his soul from his eyes. His anger and non-sense guilt and unnecessary embarrassment was completely evident. All the chirpiness of his voice, the Orang Utanish smile and twinkle of his eyes vanished and he started unsettling. And as I spoke of some other people who had got an internship, he got up and yelled, “What am I doing playing guitar in this non-sense competition?” and he took his bag and ran away to his home. No one could ask him why, and what he would achieve in one night, but this sheer burden of success and guilt of underperforming was exemplified in his behavior.

This had brought me to a dilemma. Do I have to do the same kind of things that he did for success? Should I be so desperate as well? Cant it be done with a relaxed mind? Am I suppose to be a part of this race? Can’t I be on my own? Who made these rules for success?
I need answers!!!