She was my rock and having lost her was really devastating. I got into depression. Even through I have been associated with this industry since my very childhood and lived among people from this industry my entire life, I was atill treated as an outsider when I decided to join it professionally. My next hurdle was my age and gender. That was a huge hurdle to overcome.
Today I can happily say that I am living my dream, the dream that I always had. That is how my journey here begun but it did not come without hurdles. My biggest hurdle when I joined was that I did not have experience and formal training in this field.
Even though I have been associated with this industry since my very childhood and lived among people from this industry my entire life, I was still treated as an outsider when I decided to join it professionally. My next hurdle was my age and gender. That was a huge hurdle to overcome. I felt that there was constant contestation to make myself heard or be taken seriously because I am a woman and a young woman at that. But I think I have been fortunate that I have met some really nice people who I could breakthrough. I am very fortunate that way but yeah, these initial hurdles were there and some of them still are. I feel a lot of times I am not given enough gravitas because of my age and gender. I should be. But now, I make sure I am.
My family does not believe in discrimination of any sorts and that gives me immense courage to dream and fully express my potential. There are instances in people’s lives that change them forever. Personally speaking, losing my
grandmother was a huge turning point for me. She was my rock and having lost her was really devastating. I got into depression. But now that I retrospect that time, I think having dealt with
depression first-hand, I believe I have become a stronger, mindful being. I realized that one comes into this world alone and departs alone. That was a major lesson learned. I now find the strength in me to fight my own battles.
Of course, there are days when I have major breakdowns and anxiety attacks. But I deal with it. I live through it and I am very, very proud of that. Every day that I hit rock bottom mentally, I have somehow managed to come out of it on my own. I am blessed to always have had the support of my friends and family who help me deal with situations when I cannot deal them on my own. I have always been vocal about whatever I go through and I make sure that I share my feelings with somebody I trust, be it a friend or a family member.