“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” this proverb got millennials just right! Many of us are struggling with jobs we don’t like in desks we aren’t comfortable in. But there are some of us who decide to take that step necessary to move out of the rut and do something we are genuinely proud of.
A young girl from Bombay, Preethi, who goes by the handle peppytravelgirl on Instagram, had a similar realization when she was returning home from work one day, oblivious to the trap of 9-to-5 which had become a routine for her. She was like all of us, a girl with several hopes and dreams. “I was an ambitious girl, with certain goals I wanted to achieve–a well paying job, independence & savings for my future,” she told Humans Of Bombay.
But we’ve all been there at some point in our lives – caught in a rut, ignoring the small joys of life. Right? However, after working hard for almost four years in a corporate job, she finally realized that she was meant to do things other than just sitting in a cubicle, “After my MBA, I started working at a bank & was there for 3.5 years. But once, on my way home from work–I noticed that everyday I was stuck in traffic at the same place. That’s when I realized that I was stuck too–not moving forward, or doing anything new.”
After coming to the conclusion that she needed a break from work, this girl took a solo trip to Puducherry, where she had an epiphany about what she really wanted to do with her life, “In that moment, I resolved to not waste even a single minute doing what didn’t like doing. So, I decided to take a solo trip to Pondicherry. My parents were apprehensive, but they saw how desperate I was & let me go.
On my first day I rented a bike & went sightseeing–just then, my bike overturned. I fell down & injured my leg. People nearby rushed me to the hospital & I’d to spend the rest of my trip, stuck to a hotel bed. But sitting on a bed in Pondicherry, still made me happier than anything else. So after coming back, I started saving to go to Eastern Europe for my birthday!”
And from there on, things just began to fall in place, “My first stop was Hungary, I remember I was sitting at the reception at the hostel. A bunch of people walked in–they were drunk but were laughing away. They looked like best friends. They sat next to me & started talking. They were all from different cities & had only met each other a day before. I spent the whole day with them, & then even went partying at night. After that, I travelled to Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna & Prague. And as cliche as it sounds, when I came back, I was a transformed person.”
Stuck by wanderlust, don’t you think? The girl finally told her parents about how she needed a break and what followed was fate! “I told my parents that I was quitting my job & taking a break. I used my savings to plan trips & created an online blog. Soon, I even won a contest through which I was taken across India & even anchored my own travel show on national television! I just needed faith to live the life I wanted too.”
She agreed that she still has apprehensions in life about a steady paycheck but what salvages that insecurity is her quest for going on new adventures every day, “Today It’s almost been a year since I’m a full-time traveller. It’s not easy–there are days when I don’t know where my next income will come from. I don’t have anything stable ‘cushioning’ me. But it’s okay, because the times when I’m sitting at some random corner in the world, marveling at the beauty of it all, laughing with strangers–I feel content, my life feels complete & everything else just fades away.”
Beautiful, don’t you think? It takes a great deal of courage to follow your true calling and if she could do it, so can you! I hope we all take a moment to pause and appreciate the smaller but joyous things in life. I believe in serendipity, and, we never know what life has in store for us.
Featured Image – Instagram
POPxo is now available in six languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla.
Love all things colourful and cute? Take it up a POP with POPxo Shop‘s collection of super fun mugs, phone covers, cushions, laptop sleeves and more!
