Living on my own terms

I joined the college in 2009 and was grateful to get admission in elite colleges of India. My journey started when I was born but it started to shape out my life from my undergraduate. Being in an elite college everyone binds their hopes, ambition, and persuasion with you. I being timid and shy, careless and unaware of my future accepted whatever came into my journey through life.

During my college days one day my classmate asked Dude why you don’t play any game. Let us go and have a football or badminton match. I usually get agreed without any hesitations. My friends became part of my life and I usually get involved with all activates my friends asked me to accompany them. But at the end of the semester, I saw the result of negligence in my studies. I had secured just passing marks in all the subjects. Soon my results were disclosed to my parents. They told me to study hard and focus on studies.

A new semester started again and I was full of enthusiasm. One day some folks from Art of living visited our hostels. They told us the advantage of pranayama and yoga. I got very much fascinated by the program and planned to do it. Around 40 young participants from our college attended the session. The session was wonderful and I learned a lot of techniques of yoga. Organizer asked me to become a volunteer for their program which they are going to engage a few months later on. I eagerly agreed to attend and to make this event a grand success. 1 month later I attended the session with around 50 other participants. Some of the things I liked about the session were like interacting with new people, places, and meditation techniques. After getting engaged in so many activities time disappeared like a flash. The semester ended again and I had just secured passing marks. Again I got good encouragement from my parents. But I was ashamed to see my performance.

It was 3^rd semester and everyone had just come back from their home. This semester I have been allotted single room and was quite happy for the same. I got to know about sports club and other activities which college club offers. I joined swimming and athletes club. I used to go for swimming thrice a week and rest of time to the athletics club. After few weeks I joined an adventuring and trekking clubs. In this club, I went for few traveling expedition in ranges of Himalayas. With so many activities going on, I again lost track of studies. This time they stuck me hard. I got 3 backlogs out of 6 subjects. Remaining 3 subjects I got average marks.

This was the time my heart started beating fast. I got very nervous and apprehensive about my future. I needed to act and that too very fast. My past deeds have cost me hard. I decided not to fall in traps of small pleasure but remain focused throughout the semester. I got many backlogs that’s why I needed to focus more on subjects in order to secure good marks. I started to maintain a regular and punctual schedule for my studies. Though I was not able to stick to it still was not much deviated from it. At the end of the year, my schedule and hard work paid me off. I was able to clear 1 of the backlog in 4^th semester itself. But I need more hard work and more dedication to earn decent passing GPA.

When everyone was saying do this or join that classes, I started to take advice from my seniors. I started to learn more about a prospective career in my field. After the 5^th semester, I was able to get decent GPA and was able to clear all backlogs.

After my 6^th semester, I also did an internship at University of Rouen, France. Nevertheless, I learned the about new culture and tradition of a foreign country. Either your life will shape you or you will shape your life. By the end of last semester, I was sure that I will be able to get placement in any of the good companies.

My dedication and capability to handle emotions paid a lot. During my last semester, I decided to shift to software field as I was very much interested in the same. After 6 months of my passing of college, I joined a well-known IT firm. My journey has not stopped there I constantly moved on in search of learning new things. It has been 3.5 years I have gathered exposure in MNCs, Startups and as a consultant. During all my journey I made sure whatever I do I keep learning and developing my skill. That is the key to self-development and success.

Presently I am working in a gamification startup. The agenda of my life is to learn enough wherever I work and make sure it is well utilized time. To sum up I have been living my life, not others and looking for best opportunities to grab and shape my future.