After the 12th, we all plan to move out of our hometown and explore new places surrounded by new people, new experiences and opportunities. I had the same plan until I found a better option according to my needs and stayed in Jodhpur, but in the back of my mind, the dream was still there; who doesn’t want to explore living on their own and break out of their comfort zone.
Being a guy who stayed in his hometown Jodhpur till graduation but wanted to go out. I got an opportunity to be in that dream. I deeply care about Sales and Business Development, and I consider this a life skill everyone must develop. I’ve been contributing to Enterprise India Fellowship as a Sales catalyst where I connect and nurture connections for the community. And so, I hopped on for when the team planned for a trip to Nashik to spread the word and explore opportunities there.
So, When we were reaching out to educational institutes for an in-person meeting there was one moment that brought flashbacks where I used to go to the meetings with my mentor Vivek and sit besides handling the technicalities and learning. I felt the same way while going with one of the team members, Rahul and It was not what I wanted after 2-3 years to happen again with me. So wherever I went for meetings, I initiated even though I felt uneasy. I wanted to do it more and more and eliminate my fear. There were some moments I wanted to tell him that let’s go separate. I wanted to be on my own, but uneasiness and fear took over simultaneously. It made me feel like I was retaking a backseat. It’s been 2-3 years since I used to sit at the side, but now I don’t want to be in that same position. That moment triggered the feeling of taking the steering wheel and accelerating hard.
In contrast to the above experience, I had a fantastic experience also. While making outreach efforts, something interesting happened. We were at the right place and at the right time. My mentor, Adi at Enterprise, gave me a task to create stories related to our trip to Nashik and be smart with the approach. Without any expectation, I created some stories and tagged a couple of community pages in Nashik who were making an impact and creating a space for the people there to grow. And so, a few of them responded and opened up some interesting doors for us. Our team hosted an interactive, hands-on workshop for 30 -40 budding entrepreneurs. This opportunity was created while me being proactive, connecting, thinking smartly, and being into action as I wanted to prove myself. It made me feel worth it being on that trip, but with it, there was also one more feeling that I had not done much at that moment, and somewhere that thought stayed with me.
Then I went to Pune from Nashik with the team, where our office space is. I decided to live at my friend’s place over a hostel so I could somewhat experience how it feels like to live on my own and do work. I was there for a week. Somedays, I was getting late for the office, experiencing how things work in an offline setup, going out with friends and getting low on sleep day by day. One day my friend and I were stopped by the traffic police. Surprisingly, at that moment, I didn’t feel like my old self. Everything was new around me, and I didn’t care much about what would happen. I got into negotiating mode to get out of there. Telling some made-up stories to the officer, listening to his story of his trip to Rajasthan, coming up with ideas at that instant and in the end giving him 100 rs instead of what he asked initially (rs 1000). I felt good about myself that we pulled it off. I have never done this before. It was new for me to try to deal with the situation smartly. If it had happened in my hometown, I would just have called someone to get out of there and not even try to talk.
Also, during that Pune trip, a beautiful thing happened. I started dating someone whom I liked for the last 5 months but didn’t mention to her or even created a distance over the time before coming to Pune. Because I felt that I was not worth doing all this, why would somebody like me? People see me as a silent one because of that I used to lay low and don’t put much effort. Always felt like that movie character Mr. Joe black who doesn’t understand what to do and how to do and every experience for him is new, intriguing but grateful that I found someone who made me believe that I can grow beyond this doubt. This is the feeling that I have not felt before. I even don’t know how to say it. Feeling lucky to have someone who understands me, supports me, has confidence in me and is always there for me. Sometimes feeling like I might mess up or don’t deserve what I am getting. It’s all new for me but I want to embrace it and make efforts to make things work out and stay away from my self-doubt.
This trip has given me a sense of growing as a person in every aspect of life which is important. I have felt every emotion in those 10 days.
Now finally after 4 years that guy who just got out of 12th and dreamed about finding his place is feeling a little settled. All the seeds that were sowed in the last 2-3 years are now budding and now I am waiting to see how the fruits come out. I promise myself to keep nourishing these seeds and also sow some new ones.