A career break doesn’t reinvent you. What you do in it does.

 

22 years of non stop working and then one fine day I decided that this is it. I need to move on. No, not a knee jerk reaction. A decision that was waiting to be taken for over a year. Fear of failure in getting a new job held me back. However, after contemplating a lot and discussing with my wife I went ahead and took that decision. It was a calculated risk. 

Many around think that it was foolish of me to have done that. I myself on few occasions when I am feeling low, had thought on similar lines. Then when I put things in perspective, I realized that the break has actually helped me explore areas I would not have explored otherwise. Being lost in the daily grind in the career and the long working hours, I would not have used AI to build products. I had never done that before but AI allowed my solutioning mind to convert ideas into products. I got into insurance too and understood how things work over there. I learnt freely, I met different people in my insurance journey. I saw rejection on a couple of occasions. In one case, I came extremely close to joining an organization on 1st Sep 2026 and then suddenly things went on hold. Even today, I haven't been told that things will not work out but at the same time I haven't received the offer letter. To keep your faith in the Almighty despite all this is not at all easy. I have questioned him on multiple occasions for teasing me like this. I myself never gave false hopes to people. Hence, it hurts even more when life plays such games with you. After some complaining and venting my frustration when having those silent conversations with the Almighty, I came to the conclusion that when life teases you like this, it is nothing else but test of resilience and patience. 

Ultimately, I realized that on most occasions in our life we think that we are in control of our life and our future. However, it is not the case at all. It is just an illusion that we are in control. On so many occasions a well thought through plan fails and on other occasions an unplanned and out of the box decision turns out to be a success. I am not saying here that we need to stop planning. Instead what I am trying to pin point is that no matter what, there will always be situations in life that wasn't planned and we should be prepared to handle any situation that life throws at us. One of the most recent example of this is the pilot of a flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. In his wildest of dreams, he would not have imagined a situation wherein a fellow pilot would try to get him killed and also all the passengers on flight. To be able to handle such a situation and come out victorious was only possible because he was able to react in a timely fashion and not panic. 

Friends, take life as it comes. Do not think it will always work out as you want it to. Just go with the flow and you will realize that His Plan is always better than your plan.