“Range” – back in the day, it seems like an era now, this was the name I had chosen for the line of fashion garments that I would launch at some point in my life.

A young fashion designing student at the time, I had a clear business plan chalked out in my head- how to start, what to create, how to grow and even a fall back plan. The colourful logo was ready and I had already started working on my portfolio. There was a lot of planning going on in my head as I desperately tried to juggle my vocational training alongside my full time university degree. The 19 hour days somehow did not bother my nineteen year old self at that time because I was quite sure that things would work out pretty much the way I wanted them to, if I was determined and willing to work hard.

The reason I am writing this, is because life rarely turns out as we expect or want it to be. At times, irrespective of how diligent we are, we find ourselves confronted with situations that leave us with no other choice than to give up on our dreams, to change directions and forces us to start all over again. Most of us who have been in or have faced similar situations, had to learn some lessons the hard way. Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining. In fact quite the opposite. How we deal with disappointments speak a lot about us. Just imagine facing disappointment for the first time only much later in life, when the stakes are a lot higher. What a disaster would that be…

Surely enough, my plan did not materialise. Realisation dawned on me after two years and I finally swallowed down my super sized ego and decided to let go of a plan that at the very best could be called vain. The entire incident and those years were not lost on me. They enriched me as a person and I learnt a few very important life lessons – hard work alone neither guarantees you success nor satisfaction. It keeps you occupied at best and in the end just makes you tired.

So how did I finally get there? I got help, I explicitly asked for help. It’s collaborating with the right people, being at the right place at the right time, making informed decisions and knowing when to give up, that helped me change my life the way I wanted it to. It was only after I started working hard ‘intelligently’ did I manage to move ahead. The leaps and bounds don’t get you too far, the baby steps do.

Here I am today, doing something entirely different, a profession that I was not even aware of existed at that time. Long story short – I studied Psychology, am a mother to two amazing kids and work as a recruiter in Europe. (Why recruiter??? That’s for another time) Little incidents, like the one I mentioned earlier, in our private or professional lives, shape our future selves. It tells a story and shows a path at the same time. It’s not just about what you have done in the past but about how that has prepared you for the future, it’s about where you can be.

No advice, no career tips, no foolproof way to land your dream job (because there is none). I want to share my experiences with you here and hope that you can relate to them in your own way. Some of them may be enlightening, some inspiring, some sad and some just outright hilarious… but all of them great experiences.

See you soon. Ciao.