At the core of the Aditya Birla Group Leadership Program (ABGLP) are people
who drive to make an impact, irrespective of what challenges they face. Taking inspiration from their attitude to strive, here are two important stories of my life that changed my perception to thrive harder towards my goals.
I used to be an emotionally-driven person, who at times took decisions without giving the
situation a practical thought. However, a couple of years ago, my father underwent a 12-hour long heart bypass surgery. Dad was on ventilator and I had my university exam the very next day. At 19, looking at my father on life support made me go through innumerable emotions. Maintaining my composure I resolved to study hard despite the situation and scored quite well. This particular incident, made me resilient and I realized the importance of not letting one’s emotions overpower one’s mind.
Two years back, we had an event in our college organized by the Woman’s Development Cell (WDC). This Cell basically works towards empowerment of women and talks about the various issues faced by the women of our country and how we, the urban citizens of our country could help them out. I had to do a dance performance based on women empowerment. The stage was a bit slippery due to the theatrical smoke, and my foot slipped and I fell, rather terribly Embarrassed by the fall, and the chuckles that I could hear from the audience I ran out of the stage. I cried for about ten minutes but realized that it was worse that I ran out of the stage. Firstly, it was not a good message that I gave out to empower women and secondly, I had been a performer since a long time and was not supposed to be ashamed of an unforced mishap. The very next year I performed for WDC, again, this time getting a standing ovation. The most important lesson I learnt was that setbacks occurs, but they do not mean that it is the end. We become stronger only after we get up and rise. Also, it is important to see setbacks at some point, only then do we actually start valuing what we have, and only then do we start valuing ourselves.
Many a times we are entrapped in situations we cannot find solutions to, or that make
us feel weak. The key is to stay focussed and persevere. The optimistic values inculcated in the people of the ABGLP is what makes them stand out from the crowd.