No, not what you’re thinking.
“You must listen to your heart and follow it or it will find a million ways to remind you that there is something missing.”
The job. The resignation. And the beautiful three months of the notice period. It was surreal.
Job 1 — Super cool designation, greatest mentors, best manager, supportive colleagues, challenging projects, crazy clients, collaborative work culture, decent pay.
We knew that the project was on the edge of failure. Yet we fought out battle to make it a success till our last breath. We worked beyond office hours, during weekends and holidays to achieve a meaningful outcome. I was never forced, rather encouraged, to go the extra mile and learn and grow. All credits to my manager. He is the kind of person who used to give references to the MBA gyaans and make sense of them in real life. I was the junior-most in the team and yet held a very responsible position. With the help of such extremely helpful people (and a little bit of my effort), I became one of the most trustworthy team members in no time.
After successfully completing one professional certification, creating a good rapport with the project leads, giving demonstrations to the clients, and being one of the significant reasons for celebrating the accomplishments in our project, I had every reason to stay.
One day I came across an opportunity. Since I was aware of my future in the current organization, I thought why not give it a try and explore some new challenges?
After rounds of grueling interviews, I cracked it (with the help of extremely helpful alumni and my colleague of course). I was offered more than I expected.
Job 2 — A better brand, role, location, and compensation.
But this wasn’t the end of my happiness. My project got scraped, my manager resigned, and I was allowed to take as many holidays as I need. All I had to do was stick close to my laptop in case of emergencies.
I decided to use this opportunity to travel. I visited my friends, attended a million weddings, and went out with my family for the first few days. But just like the cosine graph, I hit the lower end when the third wave came through. I was stuck with covid for the second time. I had to come back home once I recovered and wait till the wave passed. It took away more than a month from me but I was adamant. I booked my tickets as soon as the situation recovered, packed my bags, and left my home to finish what I started.
The journey was overwhelming. All the traveling, exploring new places, trying out adventure sports, and meeting new people made it worth the struggle.
I wish to write about all the backpacking experiences sometime later but to conclude this one I just wanted to mention how grateful I was to have the perfect set of people, timing, and resources for the last few months that helped me become a whole new person today.
