A Leap of Faith and The Lessons Learned
The journey of four years, summed up in a single post.
2020 is a leap year, and depending on which part of the world you’re in, you could have either witnessed it yesterday, or could be witnessing it today.
From where I am, the leap day has passed and it’s March 1 on the calendar.
And so, I decided to retrospect about my journey from the last leap year to this and the lessons I’ve learned along my way.
Looking back on life can happen in many ways — some like to retrospect on days, weeks, months or milestones. Some like to look back at milestones, journeys, and events.
Personally, I like to combine both and have a more wholesome view on how far I’ve come from one point in time to another.
Disclaimer: Before I digress and indulge too deeply in self-expression, here’s a note to you, dear reader — this story is a personal account of my four-year long journey, and if you’re curious to know, go on and read the rest of it.
In 2016, I took my first leap of faith.
It was the first time when I decided to swim against the tide (metaphorically speaking) and take the risk of following the lesser tread path.
How?
Despite the value of having an engineering background, I switched to a writing job. Stupid, scary or both, but it happened.
At first, it was just a new thing, exciting with a bit of fear involved, as new experiences usually are. Plus, the fact that I wanted to go into it without any prior experience in writing (barring a few good emails and a hastily put business plan for a startup), the move obviously didn’t appeal to a lot of people (including friends and family).
Still, I took the plunge and decided to try my hand at this new job.
“What could go wrong”, I remember thinking to myself back then.
The passion for the job wasn’t much, and the pay was even lesser, but I decided to stick to it simply because in my mind, the leap had already happened.
Some weeks and months passed, and I continued working full-time and for tons of freelance gigs. I wrote about everything and anything that came my way.
The leap had happened, and I was trying to land on my feet, not on my face.
In my mind I kept telling myself — “I have to get better at what I am doing.”
My logic behind this was based on a simple advice — to be good at anything, you have to do be bad at it for a lot of times. So, I continued to follow my leap forward.
As the years rolled on, writing gave way to marketing along with learning a bunch of other useful skills which fall under the gamut of digital and internet marketing.
Just like the big leap, these micro steps towards up-skilling were also driven by curiosity and interest.
Soon enough, I earned the label of a full stack (writer + marketer) who had the knowledge, will, and skill to create impact and generate value (however small or large) with his work.
In short, I was now ‘legit’ into a new profession.
Fast forward to 2020, I’m employed with my third company in four years while earning more than thrice of what I got when I started four years ago.
From starting a ‘job’ to finding a ‘career’ — the leap of faith has worked well for my professional growth.
Going forward, I hope to keep on improving my craft and create more value with my work.
It’s easy for me to see my journey in some sort of a heroic, bold way.
Optimistically speaking, yes, I had the courage to start afresh and most importantly, I did follow the path of curiosity, interest and passion.
Realistically speaking, I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
In my personal life, the journey from the last leap year to this one has been a lot less exciting, exhilarating or enriching, compared to my professional one.
Just like most of us, I strive to become more loving, fearless, confident and mindful in life.
These are values that define personal growth for me and I strive to live a life with these values. Growth, which for me, spans the soul, and along it, touches the heart and stimulates the mind.
Living with these values and nurturing them with discipline is what personal growth truly means to me.
I learned about all these values four years ago, but I could never live them.
As the years passed from one to another, the old habits continued to chain and bind me. The dust and rust on my personal life only kept on growing, year after year.
For the last few years, I have kept on chasing the quick fixes and rushes, while realising that instant gratification is the ultimate enemy of long-term satisfaction. Quite simply, I haven’t been able to gather the energy, force or will needed to break out of the old patterns of the mind.
Over the years, I have definitely learned how to spot the common pit-falls spots and even avoid them sometimes, but to confidently say that I’ve managed to outrun or ignore them, is something I haven’t been able to do.
Un-conditioning yourself from the shackles of your past is like uprooting an old tree, you can only do it with deliberate effort and strength. And yes, it’s something that I still struggle with.
As I look back at the last four years in hindsight, I couldn’t take a single step towards breaking the old habits.
It was almost like taking a leap backwards.
If you aren’t moving forward, you’re not standing still, you’re only going backward.
Luckily, I’ve been able to understand and articulate what needs to be changed, now it’s only a matter of putting the principles into daily practice.
Going forward from here, I plan to sow the seeds of better habits, and water and nurture them daily.
From the last leap year to this one, life has taught me valuable lessons during my journey.
I am certain they will be of use to anyone who’s reading this post and looking back or forward in their lives.
Here’s summing up my four-year journey in four simple lessons:
Your only absolute power in life is your ability to make conscious choices.
Self-care and self-love aren’t cliches, they’re essential to self-improvement.
Compounding good habits (fitness, finance, relationships) is the equivalent of doing favours to your future self.
Having a long-term view of things is important for building a life driven by passion and purpose, not just profession.
They say wise is the one who learns from someone else’s mistakes. I hope you can pick something of value and meaning from my learnings and apply them in your life.
With this, I’d like to conclude my thoughts and put my lessons into actions.
Starting 2020, I’m ready for the next big leap of faith — what about you?
