Journey Of Change

Everyone gets a chance
To change the course of their life.
When you are least expecting it,
And busy blaming your life,
Or lost while being sad over it.
In that very moment,
When life gives you an opportunity.
To change how you feel
About your life.
To change how you deal,
With all your problems.
To change everything,
That have been going wrong,
All this while.
And that’s how you begin,
Your Journey of Change.

And it isn’t going to be easy
Nothing in life is.
You need to be positive and open,
To failures and ready to start again.
To help yourself further,
Surround yourself with,
People who celebrate happiness
and spread smiles.
People who are thoughtful and
Appreciate the positives in life.
People who encourage you,
To be a better version of yourself.
People who carry energy and vibes,
As positive as it could be.
People who inspires you,
To do good, to be an inspiration,
For yourself and for others,
Around you.

Soon, you will find a newer
And better you.
One who is positive
And now look up to by others.
One who now is an inspiration
who once was lost.
One who now is loved by everyone
who once believed in staying alone.
One who now leads by example,
who once couldn’t follow anything.
One who now talk about purpose,
Who once didn’t have one.
One who is now proud and confident,
who once just felt low
And doubted one’s potential.
That was the time,
and now is one.
Poles apart, and connected
through one amazing,
Journey of Change.

Today, I want to share the most cherished moments of my life that not only transformed me into a confident and responsible human being but made me, what I am today. It’s about my journey of change and it began the moment I participated in the Recruitment Workshop of Make A Difference (MAD), a national non-profit organisation having its presence in 23 cities, seeking to mobilize young leaders to ensure equitable outcomes for children-at-risk living in shelters. To be honest, I was there for my love for kids and teaching them as I used to provide home tuition before joining MAD.

From the very first moment, the energy and the vibes were something that probably, I had never felt before and I was awestruck with each and every passing moment. And luckily, I got through and joined MAD in 2015.

The most special moment for every MAD volunteer aka MADster is the first interaction with their kids in their very first class. I don’t know if I will be able to put that experience into words or not but yes, that was bit of nervousness and full of excitement. The eyes of kids look up to us, to their bhaiya(s) and Didi(s) and they welcomed me like I was their own and not just a volunteer or their teacher.

“The first learning from my journey that I learnt from my kids is the sense of belonging. The way you would treat your own brother or sister or anyone close to you is the way you should treat everyone. It was one of the most deep, pure, rare and beautiful feeling.”

The Strategists, the fellows and the volunteers, were another best thing that happened to me for they were the people who taught me the values and treated me with love and compassion. They were the people who inspired me to always give my best and encouraged me when I was low. They were the people who became my family and treated me like their own. I felt respected, welcomed and, valued and what else person would ask for. I used to be appreciated for the little things and corrected positively for even big blunders or mistakes.

“The second learning from my journey is to be compassionate and empathetic towards everyone. Everyone is fighting their own battle about which, we know nothing. Like us, everyone needs love and more importantly, someone who can trust them and have faith in them and that’s how we actually bring out the best out of any human being.”

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The city operations, programs, events, training, fundraising campaigns are the projects that give everyone of us the hands on experience of what it feels like working on ground and the beauty of these projects are that not everyone is fortunate enough to live these experiences where you are the change-makers and are actually working things out and are managing everything that takes high level of commitment and integrity. You learn the ethics of working in team that supports, motivates and pulls you up every day. You learn techniques and develop the skills that is an essential requirement for any field. By the time you are 25, you already have an experience of working with one highly enthusiastic team, leading best of volunteers, organizing amazing events, delivering interactive presentations, raising funds for your kids and yes, working for the cause. In the world, where everyone is busy in their life running behind comfort, respect and money. You are working for a cause that affects positively to the lives of millions of kids. I don’t know if this doesn’t make you feel like a superhero then, what will.

“The third learning of my journey is to learn from your experiences, dare yourself to take up challenges and above all, never stop believing in yourself.”

I would be failing today if I do not emphasize on something that always helped me when I was in a state of confusion or needed a mantra in order to go ahead, the three core values of MAD.**

1. Cause Above Self
2. Leadership Through Ownership
3. Sense Of Family
   

   

Let alone the experiences, the learning and the growth that is possible in this journey is unexpectedly too high that one can be transformed entirely provided one give his/her best throughout the journey. The word of advice or suggestions to my younger brothers and sisters is that no matter which course are you pursuing, no matter how hard, tough or busy your life already is, no matter how introvert and antisocial you are, no matter how bad your past experiences have been, no matter how many excuses comes to your mind – Do volunteer for a cause, get associated with an NGO and put your best of efforts, at least once in your life. I can promise you that you will learn best of the lessons and earn best of the friends and above all, you will find yourself and happiness.

This was my journey and of many other MADsters. Do you want to start your Journey Of Change? If yes,  click here.

**I would love to talk about these core values in detail and how they actually plays an important role as guiding light in this journey of change but I will take this up in next post. Till then, stay connected. 🙂 

Pictures credits: ClickitKartik (Instagram)   Clickitkartik (Facebook),
Shubham (Facebook)

Post you valuable feedback and if you want to personally email me then click here. If you liked it then, do share it with your friends so that it can help someone else too. Also, feel free to comment and share your similar experiences that you’ve faced in your life and how did you tackle it and what according to you is the most important thing or person that helped you a lot.

At last, Thanks for your valuable time. I appreciate your attention. 😊