My Journey of self-discovery in a new country!!

“MY JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY IN A NEW COUNTRY!!”

It’s been exactly four years, on the 3rd of February this year, since I landed in this country (The United States of America!!) after burning my bridges back home. I brought two bags, my enthusiasm, and a stark belief at the age of 48 to recreate my life on a blank canvas. While I sat on the flight, I suddenly remembered a story from the book I co-authored, “Move Mountains – One story at a time” where a bird asked a bee, you work so hard in making the honey, and a man comes and takes your honey in a fizzy, don’t you feel bad? The bee answered; man can take my honey but can’t take my skill to make the honey. Isn’t it true?! The one thing that remains with you is the skill you have built. Some of the skills I learned over the years are “Communication & Public Speaking,” which I honed from Toastmasters. I was confident that this skill would allow me to create magic in years to come. 

Like any other immigrant, I took up any odd jobs I could find at Restaurants, driving Uber, etc….which were humbling and wonderful experiences with deep learnings. 

After a short month, I got my first call for an interview for a marketing job, and I experienced my first shortest job interview ever: 

Interviewer: What is one skill you are proud of?

Me: Public Speaking & Communication.

Interviewer: Can you start tomorrow? 

I just experienced, YES!!!! The bee was right!! Nobody could take her skill to make the honey!! 

I reconnected with the Toastmasters community, and within a month, I had the opportunity to participate in the International Speech Contest at the club level. The Toastmasters community motivated and encouraged me immensely. With the support of my fellow Toastmasters, friends, family, and mentors, I was able to align my speech to the local culture and language, which led me to be District 56 Champion!! I was speechless….this was an incredibly proud moment for me! Four months ago, when I landed in this country for good, I knew no one, but in such a short time, there were at least 500 people in that room who already knew me!!

My simple skill in Public Speaking & Communication has helped me travel to more than 25 states for my job. I associated myself with becoming a part of the National Speakers Association and Association for Training and Development to follow my passion….

Today I am comfortably settled in this country with deep gratitude and everything that one needs to live a decent life. I am thankful to everyone who may have walked “In” or “Out” of my life because they were all there for a reason and a season that helped me grow. I foresee immense opportunities and possibilities for myself in the years to come.

I humbly share some valuable nuggets I learned in these years of my eventful but incredible journey so far…..

1. There are no RIGHT or WRONG decisions. “Take a decision and get busy making it right”

2. Public Speaking is a MUST-HAVE skill, irrespective of your profession

3. Take RISKS every day because taking risks means EMBRACING possibilities

4. Don’t get disheartened by daily setbacks because setbacks are only the STEPPING STONES to bouncing back again

We all go through life in our own unique ways when it pushes us out of our comfort zones. The only output of these experiences is that we get to create our NEW COMFORT ZONES!! I would love to hear about your experiences of rediscoveries!!