My Journey...

I'm writing after a three week Hiatus.

My unemployment journey.. My Transformation from a Naive Caterpillar to a Mature Butterfly.

The transformation happened over a period of 13 gruelling months when I was unemployed in an alien country.This journey is the worst that I've traversed so far but I'm glad that it changed me for the good.

How I survived this life changing experience?

1) Food :Thanks to McDonald's Softy and the free food sample exhibitors at the Hypermarkets / Supermarkets , Carrefour and Lulu, I was able to have close to one meal a day.

2) Internet :Thanks to the 'public libraries' and 'food courts' at malls in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I used their Wifi service for searching and applying for jobs.

3) Water :Thanks to the public libraries once again as I used to walk in with an empty bottle but return with a filled one when I left the premises.

Job seekers who are having financial issues and are having a challenge in getting access to internet, food and water, can use the above free options ??

4) Car:I was forced to live out of my car for some days. In fact, I used the car for storing my stuff.

5) LinkedIn:I applied for more than 850 jobs through ‘LinkedIn Easy Apply’, and numerous openings on the respective company websites (my approach was wrong as out of desperation I applied for irrelevant posts as well).

6) Four promised offers fell through while waiting for the assured offer letters.

7) Sources expected to help were happy to wave goodbye (I’m also to be blamed for my mistakes in pushing people away and also expecting help from people).

Long story short, but in the midst of all this I never gave up. Even in the midst of all the darkness I was sure that the Sun would be back shining brightly and finally it did. After 13 long, treacherous, sleepless months I finally got my break.  I'm really happy that I kept going in spite of the numerous challenges and setbacks faced.

"It’s not the resources that we have at our disposal that matters but what really matters is how we make use of the resources available".

Lessons Learnt:

1) Life Isn't fair, it never was and never will be. Expecting it to be fair is our fault.

2) Life knocks us down on a regular basis and it is up to us to stand-up and face it.

3) Never blame anyone, take full responsibility for your life.

4) Neither trust not break anyone's trust (Biggest lesson).

5) Never depend or expect anything from anyone.

6) Keep fighting and never give-up.

7) Don't be a prisoner of your past (Most difficult to follow).

8) Move On, ignore the naysayers and the haters (Don’t waste time on revenge, ignoring and moving on is the best revenge).

9) Keep knocking the doors, some door will open some day.

Last but certainly not the least

10) Keep praying and never give up hope and faith.

I loved the change this struggle brought in me, I in fact developed the courage to seek forgiveness from people who I had hurt due to my predicament.

There is a quote which reads: “A hungry stomach, broken heart and an empty pocket can teach you life's best lessons.” Yes indeed! In my case I went on to experience all three scenarios during the same period at one go ; at the same time it taught me everything that I was oblivious to.

The idea of sharing of my bitter experiences is solely to try and inspire people who are battling life. If my story / experience is able to give hope even to one person, I would consider sharing it a huge success. Also, all the harrowing happenings of my past have not made me a bitter person but a better person.

After contemplating whether to share my experiences or not, I finally decided to share my writing today as it’s a very special day to me. The day I've finally decided to move on from people and incidents from my past. It took a while but am ready now. No looking back again. I've evolved and am marching on for greater things. I've certainly moved from the foot of the mountain but the journey to the pinnacle is long and hard and my past experience is going to come in really handy.

"Not Healed From The Past But Sealed The Past"- King Karthik.

My intent and message to fellow strugglers like myself is to write your own destiny.

#NeverGiveUp #KeepFighting #MoveOn #BeKind