Dream Big Dreams
“DREAMS ARE NOT THOSE WHICH COME WHILE WE ARE SLEEPING, BUT DREAMS ARE THOSE WHEN YOU DON’T SLEEP BEFORE FULFILLING THEM.” — Dr A P J Abdul kALAM, 11th President of the Republic of India.
The journey that has led me to Skillsoft has not been a bed of roses. Instead, it is a story of pain, failure, breakdowns, exhaustion but never giving up and being positive. I belong to an Indian middle-class family. Coming from a household where the only thing passed on to generations as a legacy is knowledge, I have always been driven by its importance in life, both personally and professionally. With this notion, I always tried to gather as much knowledge as possible, be it in school, college, or the workplace.
But, time can’t be merry always. Sometimes, we all take a pause and reconsider life. We have to slow down and rethink the surroundings.
For me, this happened around early 2017, shortly after I started my first job in 2016. The taste of independence and being on my own was something I have always wanted. I must say that being my own and being my manager made me learn and explore so many new things that I could never have experienced elsewhere. Living by myself changed me as a person. I started noticing many new things about myself and realizing what kind of person I was, what I enjoyed, and what I didn’t. I would advise everyone to have such a time in life.
As 2017 started to pass, I began to dislike my mundane job routine, which was getting monotonous day by day. Being a person who doesn’t like a stagnant situation in life, I started looking for a change. Also, learning opportunities at work were getting limited. I asked to try my hand at new technology to explore, but my manager declined my request. I couldn’t sustain myself in that environment for a long time. Being a person who tries to learn with every passing moment, I felt suffocated.
That was the turning point in my life where I decided to take ownership of my destiny. Being a pragmatic person, I chose not to leave my job as an impulsive decision. I didn’t want to be dependent on my parents again. It was a tough decision, but ultimately I fixated on pursuing an MBA (Master of Business Administration). It was the time to persuade my parents, which was a more difficult task for me.
They didn’t support me directly. They were reluctant with my choice and tried to bring me down. But, I was firm this time. I had to prove my caliber to the world and also to my family. Studying along with 12 hours a day job was exhaustive for me. The only option was to burn the midnight oil. But I don’t know why my inner self never let me give up this time, no matter how hard it got. And, the rest is history.
As I am working with Skillsoft, it reminds me that no dream is too small to dream. In fact, in my opinion, even for big things, we have to start small. I have never been afraid of dreaming. My suggestion to everyone would be never to stop dreaming. People will try to bring us down, but we have to be firm and protect our dreams. However, only dreaming is not enough. We must work to make them true. Put dreams into action and never give up.
As they say in one of my favourite movies:
“Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something. You got a dream, you gotta protect it.” — The Pursuit of Happyness
