2017 was a year of risk taking, if I had to summarize in one or albeit 2 words. Personally and professionally, there were a lot of firsts and lasts. Lasts of my unfulfilling corporate day job, lasts of my fulfilling part time job and firsts of living in USA and firsts of cohabiting with my husband.
Before I ramble on further, here is the list of what I am grateful for in the past year:
Having the courage to give up a regular and certain paycheck much against the best wishes of family and well-wishers.
Taking risks and learning from them. I quit my corporate career and took up a job as a stylist at Nordstrom to study local customers and their fashion needs. I am so grateful for the training and the lessons I learnt in customer service and business ownership. Most important lesson was of course in resilience. I am notorious for my lack of patience and I get discouraged by setbacks a bit too easily. However, I learnt the importance of resilience from my manager who asked me “ if you don’t believe you can, how can you?”
Failing consistently. Failures are so underrated, I tell you. As a blogger, business owner and an employee, I failed and failed and failed. The more I failed more I learnt.
Finding job satisfaction in switching career from consulting in automotive to consulting in personal fashion. I can probably never go back to sitting in a chair and working on power points and excel sheets on a computer after I have discovered the gratification of working with human beings and seeing the change you can bring in their lives. One of favourite customers remarked“ I will not come back to shop here if you are not there.” I am so grateful for getting customer loyalty – something that I lamented that I did not have. I eventually got it and it could not have been better timed.
Unexpected gifts from unexpected people. One of favourite customers showered me with gifts on my last day of work at Nordstrom. I am not someone who gets excited on receiving gifts as any other person – something that my friends and husband despair over. So one of my favourite customers gave me a bunch of gifts for Christmas– a Burberry jacket, a bracelet and a rose. I realized what great a deal that was considering most of my co-workers were waxing eloquent about how sweet a gesture that is. One was moved to tears and my assistant manager was exclaimed “she gave you a rose! A rose!”
Cohabiting with my 24*7 comedian, photographer slave, pep-talk giver, caretaker and brilliant cook who happens to be my husband.
These are the things I am most grateful for in 2017 and I am glad that I made a gratitude post since I am not usually that grateful. What are you grateful for in the past year?
