Don't Give Up!

Five years ago on this very day I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. I had just floundered on a very important interview and there was no end in sight for the rut I seemed to be on. I was no fresher, had close to a decade of experience and was at one point excellent in converting interviews. Friends who started with me were all well-settled and here I was experiencing a mid-career slump unable to nail down a job. Half-a-dozen opportunities blew past me and my dreams of making it in Canada were slowly evaporating before my very own eyes. What did I do?

I strolled down to CN Tower in Toronto just to clear my mind.

Height of the CN Tower

Even though my life was quite literally going nowhere I found myself standing at a greater elevation than most people in this world (thousand feet give or take). That very thought made me smile. That smile in turn reminded me that things were not really as bad as they seemed. Sure, I had to figure out a way to perform better in my interviews but at least I was getting to the interview stage which was heartening.  

CN Tower: Looking down from a thousand feet

Things didn't immediately become better after that trip. I continued to struggle at my interviews but I was becoming better and better at the way I handled them. What brought about the change?

• Listing out all the questions which were troubling me across all the interviews I had attended. This was a painful process but if you have to get better you need to be able to actively pinpoint what's going wrong and work on it tirelessly.
• Seeking the advice of mentors, friends, seniors, anyone whom I could talk to in order to formulate strategies for interview success.
• Practicing tirelessly before my interviews by attempting mock questions which were relevant to my position and profile.
• Seeking and studying a varied number of concepts pertaining to my subject area. This would supply me with the authenticity and confidence I required to tackle questions coming out of the left field.

I could list any number of points here but the most important one among all of them was the innate feeling to not give up. You discover this feeling when you start enjoying your struggle. I always dreamt of making my name in a foreign land and this dream was demanding me to revamp my skills and up my game. When was the last time you worked on your dreams? Any effort you invest on yourself and your dreams only makes you glow from within. Sure, there were some financial constraints to consider, I couldn't go on for an inordinate amount of time to prove myself. But even if I ran out of resources before this dream of mine came true, I wouldn't necessarily fret coz I gave it my best shot. At the very least I wouldn't blame myself for not trying hard enough.

Limiting my time on social media also aided my struggle. Social media only shows a sliver of someone's life. Swanky cars, palatial houses and exotic destinations do not necessarily speak to the quality of one's life. I myself had several trendy pics on my social media profile but none of those were emblematic of my current struggle. The same argument could also hold true for my friends and acquaintances I didn't know the lacunae in their life just as they didn't know mine. So I didn't need to know what anyone else was doing. My energies and focus were on bouncing back to the best of my abilities.

Don't Give Up<Courtesy: Colton Sturgeon>

Once I started looking upon this struggle as a necessary step to attain my goal the stress became more manageable and the results started improving. I finally landed a job two and a half months from the day I visited the CN Tower. A year after landing the job, I visited the tower once again with my parents. It was a surreal experience to spend an evening with the family there, as just a year before I had nothing to feel proud of. I realized the true beauty of not giving up that day.

This was the very takeaway that sustained me through the pandemic where I once again had to look for a job while suffering from a horrible writer's block. But we survived, fought back with more vigor and today we are celebrating Life Etc Etc's 125th post with the most important message of them all: "Don't Give Up!".  

You may feel that others have left you behind, you may believe that you are all alone and may conclude that success is unattainable. You may intrinsically perceive many negative things, none of which are true. The only way to really know the truth and understand what you are genuinely capable of is by not giving up. Sometimes the path towards light has extended periods of darkness. The darkness just means you will have to work doubly harder to see light. So pour in your energies to manifest your dreams. Remember if your efforts are positive the outcome will be positive too.

Don't Give Up!

Until Next Time,

Your Everyday Inspirer,

Chaitanya J.J.