happiness and food

It’s never too late to #StartANewLife and I think my life had a lot of roller coaster decisions all of which play important roles in shaping me who I am today. A lot of henna dyed grey hair is from those numerous experiences and one of the most important ones of those was about my career.

While growing up, I was a book lover (worm as some used to comment). If I was asked to step out to play, I would go sit in someone else’s house to read or teach. On top of that I loved science, mathematics and any form of those subjects to such an extent that I would borrow books from children of other schools to solve problems from them. My interests led me to an engineering college where I had a wonderful time. Great lessons each day, the circuits on the bread board, the RPMs, the NAND/NOR gates, the KVLs, KCLs and what not. I was fascinated by science and how I wished I would become a scientist one day.

The bubble had to burst and it did when I started working. Getting a job was never a problem for me but my challenge was relating how I could apply what all had I studied to what I was asked to do. These questions led to many other in my mind and over a period of time, I could not imagine myself sitting in front of a computer and writing codes. I could not understand what impact my work had on the revenues of the company. I know! I was in early twenties and that sense was missing. By that time, I had spent over two years in my first job and to the outside world, I was settled, working hard and an independent woman. Being a woman Software Engineer in 2005 used to be big thing. But I was not ready for such a life.

I decided to do something else and different. Something that was close to me, that would help me grow each day and something that I can do for the rest of my life. I found my calling my human resources. I understood that employees are the most important assets of any organization and if I can get to be in HR, I would be able to give my all. Not just my brain but also my heart.

Well, I took the plunge, quit my well cushioned job and moved to a business school. I was back on being supported by my parents and my housing was a hostel room again.It was hard at times cos I knew I would have to try my luck in the job market again after two years of post graduation. What others were doing immediately after graduation, I was doing after quitting a job from a respectable company and the fear of what the future was to behold sometimes made me nervous. A lot of people did ask me what made me take up engineering when I wanted to get into HR and my reply till date is “I love science” and I mean it. I am intrigued about how stuff works and what’s behind that circuit. I left my job not cos I could not understand the freeing up of memory or flushing out the garbage. My heart was not into it.

Today, I believe moving to HR was the best decision of my life (of course this comes after choosing VT as a life partner) and I am who I am cos of my business school. The lessons on human resources, the real impact of my work, the case studies and everything makes sense to me. Over the last 5 years, I have never come home thinking what I am doing and why? I think I am more rational now than I was before and I am glad I took a chance. Today I may not be earning more than the people I began my career with but I have equally relevant and well-rounded experiences.

It’s never too late to start a new life based on what you are passionate about. The time is now or never. Optimism and belief in self takes one to a level which brings in contentment and I strongly believe in this.

What’s your story? 

Thanks to Housing.com for this wonderful prompt! I just couldn’t resist writing! 🙂