As raw as we all are born, I was no exception! My parents, my surroundings contributed to a great extent in building that foundation… They created a very strong value system there and also taught me to weigh and analyze every small thing coming my way before adding it to that foundation. The schooling, curricular, extra-curricular all made their own marks and impressions on my personality… building my character!
But, beyond all these absolutely usual things happening to me, I was a rebel from within. While my surroundings were expecting me to accept things as they are… I was questioning every single thing… right from discrimination based on academic achievements to social norms regarding dealing with students. Honestly speaking, the rebellious child in me did not really gain anything in terms of change in those norms as such then but I could develop an ‘inquisitive questioning mind’!
A ‘questioning mind’ teaches us to be open to any answer, prepares us to take challenges and risks and trains us to face the burn at times as our society at times does not like ‘to be questioned’! However; it also slowly makes our system of ‘unconditional acceptance’ weak… where I had to struggle quite a few times later in life!
So, in a nutshell, I had a very pleasant childhood with a great impact of my parents’ teachings, which strengthened my value-system and with a great contribution of my surrounding, which made me an extrovert, adventurous and also a rebellious person!
Looking at life as a journey is common but the question is – do we truly consciously travel?
Flowing with every coming day is not a travel. Traveler makes a move himself… decides the next destination, carves out a path, prepares for the unseen and most importantly, the traveling mind does not stop. Newer horizons and newer journeys do not let it stagnate ever.
Soon in my early teens I was blessed to realize that I have a traveler’s mind. And the first rebellious decision made its way. Getting out of the cozy warmth of family and preparing myself for the journey of life before I was 18 was the first move of this journey to infinity! Letting the experiences teach you ‘life’ is a hard way to learn as it asks for prices in terms of time, people, relationships and most importantly, ‘self’. But, a traveler must be ready for the same as the paths are always chosen by himself at every junction.
I consider myself blessed as these paths have shown me the true world, the true faces and have given me powers to recognize them, understand them and make choices after that. My keen interest in ‘psychology’ emerged from there and I could look at academics not only as means to make career but as a bridge to learn about the world… the people & the life!
The traveler is also an explorer… He must be! No journey brings a real meaning unless it is aimed at an exploration. And exploration means an interface with unseen, unraveled, uncertain! This needs an adventurous mind with a risk taking ability and preparedness to face whatever that comes. Some turns take us to road closures, some to wrong directions away from our desired destination and some even such places from where the return journey seems impossible. A traveler must take these risks and still keep moving ahead!
My life also took me through these twists… those turns sometimes gave me a roller coaster ride and sometimes even a stagnation, which I would not have chosen otherwise. The beauty of looking at life as a journey is – you know, “even this shall pass”. The movement keeps our hopes alive and whatever twists the life shows you, the traveler mind is tuned to experience it!
Family, professional career and social life… all the twists always kept my journeys alive. At times by offering the energy which was needed and at times by drying up the resources which automatically pushed me to bounce back. This taught me one thing – ‘the destiny might offer an ordinary or in a way usual life according to social structures around you… the path that we choose to live life decides our real destiny!’ Hence, an ordinary life can create an extra-ordinary individual.
This has been the journey so far. And I am standing at a junction looking at my dreams. I have picked up some beautiful stones of learning on the way until now and have also left my baggage at various milestones earlier in order to unlearn something. The road ahead is the toughest as it looks to me… simply because it is the road to dreams and it would ask me to put my every skill and each learning at stake to be able to move forward. It would test my preparation, endurance, abilities and beyond all that the mental toughness.
This is the space, where I am going to mention each small milestone, all the turns that I am taking, the achievements coming my way and also the steps ahead.
