Of late I have been a little more active on LinkedIn - I log in from time to time, read the blog posts shared on the network and keep in touch with my connections' career advancements. I changed my profile pic and work history recently and while doing so went through my work profile. It was so nostalgic - going through all the organizations I have worked for, all the associates I have interacted with, all the exciting projects I have worked on !! There were hardly any unpleasant memories I had, every work opportunity has provided me with immense experience ( domain and methodology ) and further molded my career for the better. Browsing through the history also made me realize how fortunate I have been - till I took a maternity break I was on a career high working with the best of Fortune 500 companies ( TCS, GE, Citibank, Kroger, Sogeti - Capgemini etc) and have gained so much valuable experience.
Then came a time during my break when I could no longer muster courage to log into LinkedIn - it was just so depressing to see everyone advance in their lives and carve a niche for themselves when all I was doing was changing diapers all day long. I wasn't jealous so much but frustrated at my environment - I have the potential and capabilities of doing better, putting my knowledge to use, advancing with the world but with little support at hand I was just tied up. With each passing year I was giving up hopes and ambitions, taking up small assignments just to keep myself afloat and at times working on sub standard projects ( which eventually didn't see the light of the day ).
With a recent turn of events, I feel am back on the road ! Working full time has been draining on my energy and does come with a guilt of side lining other duties - motherhood and household ; but it has been rewarding too.
Why does the world ( or maybe Indian society in particular ) not understand how important a career can be to a woman and not support her in her quest for bigger and better achievements in life ?
Outside the work world I am always identified as someone's wife or someone's mom etc but at work I am an individual in my own right much like the men I work with. Maybe I have been born the wrong gender or with a jumbled mix of hormones but the homemaker world just suffocates me - given an option I wouldn't cook or touch any household work but gladly be out and about contributing to a growing economy. See me in a boardroom or put me up on stage and I feel at home, comfortable and confident in my space ; confine me to the four walls of a house and I am an uninterested, gloomy soul. So work is salvation from a gender based forced stereotype and I am glad majority of the workplaces have little gender bias.
People resort to meditation to generate the focus in life and make them live in the present - that's precisely what work does for me; achieve the zen tapping in higher levels of consciousness / intellect.
I strongly advocate that every individual should have a career of their own - everything else you do is shared or for yourself and others in your life : be it family chores or raising a kid but a career is your very own. You get the credits, the accolades and the satisfaction of doing something worth your own potential. Plus the financial independence and the self worthiness that it provides is priceless.
I don't need anyone to provide for me, I can utilize my knowledge and abilities to take care of myself and my own people in case of adversaries. I fail to understand from where homemakers generate self esteem - they are living every single moment of their life for their family and children and always dependent on their spouse. In my own way I have tried to encourage a few such I interact with to pick up a hobby and turn it into a profession - even if it is mediocre that's fine. Step out of the house as an individual, make a sale, sign an agreement, meet like minded people, be a part of an economy - come out of the cocoon and experience life as a butterfly : its exhilarating even if its short lived !!!
Then came a time during my break when I could no longer muster courage to log into LinkedIn - it was just so depressing to see everyone advance in their lives and carve a niche for themselves when all I was doing was changing diapers all day long. I wasn't jealous so much but frustrated at my environment - I have the potential and capabilities of doing better, putting my knowledge to use, advancing with the world but with little support at hand I was just tied up. With each passing year I was giving up hopes and ambitions, taking up small assignments just to keep myself afloat and at times working on sub standard projects ( which eventually didn't see the light of the day ).
With a recent turn of events, I feel am back on the road ! Working full time has been draining on my energy and does come with a guilt of side lining other duties - motherhood and household ; but it has been rewarding too.
Why does the world ( or maybe Indian society in particular ) not understand how important a career can be to a woman and not support her in her quest for bigger and better achievements in life ?
Outside the work world I am always identified as someone's wife or someone's mom etc but at work I am an individual in my own right much like the men I work with. Maybe I have been born the wrong gender or with a jumbled mix of hormones but the homemaker world just suffocates me - given an option I wouldn't cook or touch any household work but gladly be out and about contributing to a growing economy. See me in a boardroom or put me up on stage and I feel at home, comfortable and confident in my space ; confine me to the four walls of a house and I am an uninterested, gloomy soul. So work is salvation from a gender based forced stereotype and I am glad majority of the workplaces have little gender bias.
People resort to meditation to generate the focus in life and make them live in the present - that's precisely what work does for me; achieve the zen tapping in higher levels of consciousness / intellect.
I strongly advocate that every individual should have a career of their own - everything else you do is shared or for yourself and others in your life : be it family chores or raising a kid but a career is your very own. You get the credits, the accolades and the satisfaction of doing something worth your own potential. Plus the financial independence and the self worthiness that it provides is priceless.
I don't need anyone to provide for me, I can utilize my knowledge and abilities to take care of myself and my own people in case of adversaries. I fail to understand from where homemakers generate self esteem - they are living every single moment of their life for their family and children and always dependent on their spouse. In my own way I have tried to encourage a few such I interact with to pick up a hobby and turn it into a profession - even if it is mediocre that's fine. Step out of the house as an individual, make a sale, sign an agreement, meet like minded people, be a part of an economy - come out of the cocoon and experience life as a butterfly : its exhilarating even if its short lived !!!
