If you get a seat on a rocket ship, don't bother about which seat is it, but just grab it! I read this long back, but applied it some time back when I got an opportunity to be part of the market entry team of IKEA, as they were stepping foot in India. And boy, what a learning it was! Never a dull day and the sweat, tears, blood which are seen culminating on the final D Day as the 1st store in Hyderabad was opened to the customers was all worth it. Things moved on in my career as I got a chance to then work with some really amazing retail brands across both Indian and the North American markets and apply my retail expertise. Well this journey in retail was never planned but it was worth taking.
I also progressed personally, as I was fortunate to experience the beginning of parenthood along the way. Juggling work and being a mommy made me realise that this is what I ever wanted, my ideal adult life always visioned. But then came a catch! It started becoming comfortable :) And some where deep down I knew I need to look for next challenge and wriggle out of that comfort zone.
I found a 2 months long course to do that and crazy it was. It however taught me how i could get further out of the 24 hours of time and still stimulate myself both intellectually as well as make the most of the growing moments of my little one. I experimented too. And then was the time to bid a good bye to retail and operations. And today, here I am looking ahead towards this new journey which I look forward to, starting the next week!