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I get asked quite often, “how can I build a recession-proof career?”

And I am always left wondering, “Is it possible to have such a recession proof career?”

What if we asked a different question: Is it possible to walk without ever falling?

Then how is it possible to build a career without creating space for failures?

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
— JK. Rowling

It is through the process of falling, that we learn the art of walking.
It is through the process of failing, that we learn the art of growing.

What are you good at?
What are you really passionate about?
Do they intersect?

The world wants us to “settle” after college.
Quickly find a job and settle.
Quickly chose a profession and settle.
Quickly start earning and settle.

However, how do we know if what we are settling for is worth settling for?
What if, instead of settling,  we tried as many different things as possible?
What if we experimented more often, along with taking care of our finances?
What if we sat on as many chairs as possible, instead of continuing to sit on the first chair we sat on?

Our education system doesn’t teach that to us, that is why we have to do that for ourselves.

How would you ever know what you want to do, if you never showed yourself what all you could do?

When we are asked about our diet, we always know what to say.

I eat healthy. I don’t eat healthy.
I eat on time. I eat irregularly.
I love my veggies. I hate them.
I am a hardcore non-vegetarian. I am a vegetarian.

When asked about our diet, we all give our versions of the food we intake.

However, our diet isn’t limited to just our food.
It is also about what we feed our mind.

Whether we watch news on WhatsApp or watch an inspirational video.
Whether we choose to gossip or read a book.
Whether we choose to watch TV before going to bed or reflect on our day.

The diet we feed ourselves, is the life we have settled for.
For our body and for our mind.

It’s human nature to be inclined towards people who are like us.

They make us feel comfortable, validate our ideas, and even protect our opinions.

However, they don’t help us grow.
We just become a bigger version of ourselves, not a better version.

What if we spent time with people whose worldview was exactly opposite to ours?
How would our life be different if we were to, as a discipline, spend time with people who have a different worldview from ours.

The goal is not to become them.
The goal is to explore different perspectives, while evolving as who we are.

The people we do not want to spend time with are the people who know something we don’t.

Most of us won’t laugh at the same joke again.

Then how is it that we get upset with the same situation again?
How is it that the same past makes us feel hurt again?
How is it that a painful event keeps us unhappy for years after that?

We react to the stories we tell ourselves.
Long after the story is actually over.

“Can you please ask my son to stop having sweets?” said a concerned mother to a saint, whose kid used to consume sweets incessantly.

“Sure, could you bring the child back a week later?” the saint replied, to which the mother agreed.

After a week when the mother brought her child back, the saint told the child, “Son, eating sweets is not the right thing, and I want you to never have them again.”

Perplexed, the mother asked the saint, “You could have told the same thing last week as well?”

“No,” replied the saint, “I couldn’t. I first had to stop consuming sweets myself.”

To teach the path, we first have to walk the path.

We are constantly fighting for something. With someone.
Fighting with our parents, our siblings, our boss.
Trying to convince them that we are right.
And that they are wrong.

Defeating them, however, is easy.
Winning over them is easy.

What isn’t easy though is to win them. 

Real victory is not in winning over people.
It is winning people over!

What is home?
The place you were born?
The place where you stay?
The place you go back to?
The place where your family is?

Is home a place? Or something deeper?
An emotion?

Home is a place where we belong.
Home is where we would never want to run away from.
Home is a vibe where we could be us, without any.

Home is not just a place of four walls.
It’s an abode where all walls collapse.

You’re loving your journey.
Working hard. Making remarkable progress.
You can see it. Everyone else can see it.

And then you see, there’s someone else more successful.
Getting more accolades than you. 

Does that suddenly make you feel that your success is lesser?
Does that make you doubt your own self?
And perhaps your wonderful journey so far?

To not be insecure of someone else’s success and finding security in your own achievement, is the biggest achievement.

When do we feel bad?
Almost always because of an external trigger – circumstances or people.

When do we feel good?
Almost always because of an internal trigger – something we have done or felt. 

If these both statements hold truth, how is it that we feel bad more often than we feel good?
If feeling good is within our control, why do we allow an external stimulus to make us feel bad? 

If we do not want anyone or anything to make us feel bad, especially when we don’t want to, we have to allow ourselves to be happy, whenever we want to.