It surely is. But not impossible. If a dumb-f***ing-bugger like me can, you can, everyone in this world can.
All it needs is a little madness, little fortune, little planning, little determination, little guts, and an understanding soulmate.
My 4-year-long sabbatical taught me good lessons. it taught me to open my eyes, heart, and mind and look at the world differently. It made me kinder, more loving, more compassionate, and more grateful.
In a nutshell, it made me simpler.
I realized that I don’t need much — in a material and spiritual sense — to be truly happy in life. It’s just the little and basic stuff that matters to me.
But I wasn’t like this always.
Life in the early 20s was demanding and of an extremely exploring nature. I got a dream job in a dream organization. I was doing good, got a series of promotions, reserved a six-figure monthly income and everyone loved me. And this was big in the beginning years of the 21st century.
This made me mad.
I think I couldn’t handle too much money in these early days. The amount wasn’t exorbitant as it was too much for a young boy like me who came from a humble socio-economical background.
I remember spending most of the money in dance bars, team get-together parties, and solo traveling. Money spent in dance bars and team get-together parties were more of satisfying the false ego and pride whereas solo traveling was to satisfy the soul.
The tips given were huge. Every day some thousands of Indian rupees were spent to dancers and waiters. I also remember making rings of rupees 100 currency note and putting it on the fingers of some dancers I liked.
Once, we went to a small group in a dance bar in Mumbai and we spent 100,000 Indian rupees in just 5 minutes just because it was my favorite dancer was dancing on my favorite film song.
Cut to.
I was saving rupee 10 when I was on this sabbatical as there was no income from any sources; other than my little savings. This continued for 4 years until the completion of the sabbatical in 2016.
In 2016, all my savings got depleted and I decided to restart my life commercially. I had acquired many talents and crafts in this period and I wanted to use them to rebuild something new.
My wife — my soulmate — supported me as a strong fortress.
I feel astonished by looking at myself nowadays. It was me who used to spend huge amounts of money as tips then and now, I spend only as per requirement. Neither I miss the old days nor I repent these new ones.
I’ve understood the worth of money in these 4 years, and how to romance with it rather than just sleeping with it for a night.
Restarting my life has been a really good experience for me. I’m unlearning old things and learning new things; enjoying the new life.
Let’s see what does it has in store for me!
