Upgrade, Update, Upscale, You Have The Power To Soar
Shanta was in a fix. Years of hard work, a dream fulfilled and a degree in microbiology tucked firmly under her belt. What was she now? Research assistant? Food technologist? Agricultural microbiologist or doctoral research? Maybe her own pharma company! The sky is the limit; or is it? What did she choose?
Reality has little tricks under its sleeve and the world is a hard taskmaster. Choices come with expectations, and social roles come with unspoken norms.
There are umpteen undercurrents that drag you down. You need strong wings to fly, and you need to keep them flapping. It gets tiresome after a while and sometimes all you want is a parachute to keep afloat. To sail gently through the clouds. The magic cushion for the perfect balance. And, anyway, all birds need to come home to roost.
Shanta chose a B. Ed degree and decided to take a job as a teacher.
If you love teaching, you are one of the few who inspire, weave magic and create stars out of young lives. If you are teaching because it is an ‘easy’ career option, you are already taking hundreds with you down the path of easy compromise in life.
And towards lifelong dilemmas. To go back to the unrequited first love and what could have been. Constantly looking for the courage to do so.
You will seek advice and solutions. And come back to where you started. And then begin the whole cycle again.
Only, Shanta took a brave step out of the cycle and reached out.
There are many Shantas out there--talented women who broke the mould at a time when most were content to remain there. I would want her to strengthen those wings again and chase the dreamwind, even if it’s not right away.
It would be such a pity to look back and wish you had taken that proverbial ‘road less travelled’. But this is about what Shanta wants to do. Confusion is best resolved through choices, and believing you have the power to make the right choice.
My Buddhist mentor often says, “May you live in such a way that others say ‘she is a woman who, though ordinary, somehow stands out and has a beautiful story to tell.’’
SHEROES is about giving Shanta the power of choice and a chance to live her beautiful story. Sans compromise, sans confusion. What was my advice to Shanta? To look for the options, to work on her preparedness to tackle the options, to raise the bar for herself and begin rebuilding a career story from her experience.
For today, my takeaway has been ‘Courage vs Compromise’. Careers are largely determined by how, when and where we choose one over the other.
Do write in to share your takeaways with us. Until the next story, and our next takeaway, take care and ‘Take Charge’.
