Times in life that have pressured, jolted and shoved me in a corner of loneliness have been the biggest influencers in my life.

I remember this line always, it was never the safe sea that made for a skilled surfer!

And so, every person who treated me wrong and triggered my ego; every person who rejected me and challenged my sense of self worth; every person who left me without closure, letting misery take over and every close relation that shocked me by withdrawing their support when I needed them most are people that have influenced me in the greatest way possible.

It all started with embracing victimhood. WE all go through it. I am so good, but they do not understand. Next stage is why me? That’s when you are seeping deeper into the victim mentality. After a while, when nothing changes and everyone who seems to be a villain in your life seems to be living it up, you start to question yourself. From this point on, there are two ways – one, accept reality and work on yourself. Two, embrace some addiction and go even deeper down the rabbit hole.

I have to confess, in was lucky. I embraced the first option. It introduced me to myself. The ever changing facet of me. It helped my shake hands with awareness. A key aspect of making any progress. And next, the newfound self, doubled with awareness and mindfulness was naturally inspired to do some inner work.

As journaling, podcasts, workouts and dropping expectations kept hacking my mind, I saw my problems make a u-turn. The people who had chosen to treat me poorly started to change course. And things began to look up.

In a nutshell, I found a different version of myself. One that accepts herself with all flaws. One who is less judgmental and more forgiving of everyone, especially herself. And one who is no more the victim.

p.s. sometimes, it is the worse time, people and experiences that show us our most bitter truths. And lead us to the path that is meant to do us good. All it takes is a leap is faith, a shift in mindset and the will to face one’s truth.