The process of getting mentally matured urges me to stop postponing the “not so good at(s)” and start working towards that “so-called” one at a time!
Storytime:
That was 9th standard and one bright sunny Sunday, me along with my friends went to visit my then 73 yr old English lecturer who invited us to his home after bugging him for quite some time(It used to be a common interest for us to see their family behind so-called strict teachers). One of the reasons behind visiting that day was to get a sneak peek of the results for a then-recent essay writing competition. Mission accomplished! However, the results were way worse than I ever expected. He had pointed out many mistakes in my writing which I didn’t think when I wrote the essay(Of course!). I felt insecure as I was the class topper and was not open to that kind of feedback. That’s where it all started!
Outcome: inferiority
Time to Complain:
Yes, I do!
Coming from a school education, where languages are portrayed as non-scoring courses(subjects as per British English), I thought all my life until I landed in the U.S at the age of 21. Math and Physics were the most important subjects(my favorite too) and spent most of my time learning them. OK, now I am complaining about my school!
The truth is, it took me a reasonable amount of time to understand it.
Outcome: Immature
Teeny tales:
I listen to nobody including myself!
When I was 19 or so, I got an opportunity to write articles in my friend’s startup! I felt very enthusiastic at that time. I felt reasonably good after a few of them got the highest views of all the articles. I used to google synonyms for the common words and replace them with complex-sounding synonyms. It sounds funny but worked for me most of the time :D. Clearly, I did not continue with that interest but understood that I know or can think of something useful which I later ignored obviously due to career plans(as writing should be pursued as a hobby as per my Indian mindset).
Outcome: Ignorance
Naan-Immigrant:
Copyrights: Credit Sussie
Being a legal naan-immigrant to US(Ok! I expressed my discomfort staying away from parents amidst of tensions here), I mostly am confident while speaking and writing. There were some situations I screwed up but I always learned something good from them. I was hired as a graduate assistant for over a year with a professor, I showed the worst of my communication. However, she used to point out even a minor grammar mistake in a very gentle way. It was a great experience working with her. After that, I got an opportunity as a project reviewer at Udacity (my dream company to work with) where I used to review student’s projects and write feedback. When I receive positive feedback from the students, I get the most happiness. Cut short, my time here in the US is all about learning and how I can use this learning to grow!
Outcome: Growth
Realization:
I slowly realized writing is the most fascinating thing I want to pursue. I am constantly being conscious about what I write and how I write which is good in a way but when it gets to your head even when writing an Instagram post, then it’s chronic right, I know! In short, I want to sound fancy in everything I write in the first go!
The worst part is when I try to share useful information, I am still being conscious.
Outcome: Time to take action!
Few hours before writing this article:
Started with the technical post of the latest course I am doing but the introduction soon turned out to be a story!
Again started to write an article about an event I attended today but trying to keep the humor alive by telling a story.
Decided to introduce myself in the first article.
I wrote a few lines and then constantly trying to improvise the few lines I have written and not moving forward.
Came to a book store to search for books like“How to write an article in an hour”, “Article writing for dummies” or something similar.
Guess what! The irony here is I ended up with the books shown below.
This is when life showed me “The path to success is not a shortcut”
One last thing!
I am not ending abruptly! I hope I justified my title thought out the read.
Thanks for visiting! Hope you find it useful!