Now the World is my Oyster and It’s Limitless!
“You aren’t moving across to survive; you should aim to flourish”
- These were the exact words of my mentor who sent me a note before this venture began.
A month before, I dropped a cozy little life of an affectionate family, the best set of friends, mentors and a ready made everything. I didn’t have to think twice before spending nor whiling away time. A decision to travel across to the other end of the world seemed exciting. The day I stood at the airport apart from this life, a flight away from leaving back everything I ever had, I realized how hard the walk would be. A lone journey, a shivering hand with a passport held, hoping that my trolleys shouldn’t be heavy was the biggest worry. Everything went smooth and little did I know that in no time I was into a nightmare.
On landing, I stepped into my first apartment next, and as a good sign, my phone submerged into the water. I had extra backups of my resume and clothing and food for a lifetime packed in but not my phone. No means to contact around and no acquaintances around; A blinking phone in hand. Long prayers went along with it.
There is a sense of learning involved when you learn to be on your own, when chores become a part of your everyday.
“What it takes to be away from an easy life, is what drives you to make the new journey worth it”.
Financial independence can do two things to you, it either makes you splurge or turns a former splurger into an economical person and so was I, among the latter.
The first class was along with students who work for Fortune 500 firms in the mornings and come by to sit beside you in the evenings during classes. Their experience is elucidated in the outlook of their work and personality. When you come to America, you realize what it takes to earn money and however fancy the American Dream may seem to you from the farther end, these are hard built walls, made from scratch.
Teachers here talk to you in a tone that is a reality check. This lifts up your spirits and widens your limits of pre-existing knowledge; The questionnaire you answer everyday, “Am i working to my potential?” Why isn’t it ever being good enough? That’s the competition out here. A shrill of insecurity is a part of your initial phase here. The transition can be simply quoted- “Be prepared to live a lifetime in the library”. But here its not just studying, there is a real world learning happening.
Socializing in your comfort zone back then was easy, but not in a new place. Eventually, this would happen. The search for familiarity ends and you would learn to emerge out of your shell in no time.
The culture our people keep across here has made even an agnostic person like me, curious about certain aspects of tradition. Artists find themselves a place anywhere they venture into the world, and so could I. The dance forms here, have brought a balance to the busyness in Boston.
I am a month older to the person who left the country sometime back. If thirty days could influence me so much , I am positive that I would make this journey worth it. I didn’t know I could take such good care of myself and with time, I would do the same to others.
Once, just once when you move away, you would come back as a transformed person. There is a strong set of motivator-cum-parents looking forward to hear from me and this is for them.
“I love who I’ve been, but I really love whom I’m becoming”.
Thank you, for gifting me this journey to be in the land of opportunity.
