Follow your Passion, they say…. But do most of us really know what our Passion is????

For me, it took 40 years for the enlightenment to come. I am Sonal Popli and I am a qualified German Teacher. I was always a good student academically; always among the toppers. I had various interests...debates, elocution, theater,dance, painting, embroidery....infact you could call me 'Jack of All'. Most of all, I loved to paint and my embroidery was also very neat.

One day my mother told me, " If you can put this talent to its right use, imagine what a great surgeon you could be". And my young mind fell in love with that idea. My grandfather was a Doctor and I started taking interest in his profession. It came quite naturally to me... remembering the names of medicines, symptoms of various ailments and their treatment...I was all the time engaged in picking up tips from my grandfather, imagining myself to be a successful doctor one day.

Exploring‌ ‌fields‌ ‌and‌ ‌careers.‌

So, naturally when it came to choosing subjects in the 11th grade, I took PCB. Though the only subject of interest or aptitude among the three was Biology, but unfortunately our education system demands a combination of the three to be able to appear for the entrance exams for medicine. I struggled with Physics and Chemistry...killed myself trying to get an understanding of the two..but failed. I couldn't clear the Entrance exam .. that left me heartbroken and totally without a clue what next to do. I had no plan B.

My parents had told me to consider doing Fine Arts ( taking my natural flair for it into consideration), but all I wanted to be was a doctor. I took a drop year and appeared for the Entrance exam once again the next year, but in vain. Totally shattered and without a direction, I joined college to do B.com...again a wrong choice... Accounts wasn't my cup of tea... I knew that anything to do with numbers wasn't my game, but I was in constant denial. Had been a good student, so I thought I could work hard and achieve anything. Infact I made a bigger mistake and appeared for the foundation exam for CA, which got introduced that year itself. Unfortunately I cleared it and started preparing for CA along with my graduation.

Two years down the line , sense dawned and I had the courage to tell my parents that I hated the subjects and did not want to pursue it further. It was difficult though, but my parents having seen my struggle with the subjects, supported my decision and I decided to do Post Graduate Diploma in Advertising Management. Did that and even worked for a couple of years...but I wasn't happy. Got married , had kids, did a few odd jobs , but all through this I realised I was never happy working under someone and I didnt like being out of the house away from my kids.

Self‌ ‌satisfaction‌ ‌and‌ ‌balanced‌ ‌work‌ ‌life.‌

So I got back to my Painting and even held a few exhibitions. I loved doing it and the response too was good. But still it didn't give me the kind of satisfaction I wanted or desired. I found real happiness in teaching my kids, which I did with a passion, but never thought I would want to take it up as a profession ever. Once, when I took my daughter for her German tuitions and while waiting outside for her, I got thinking...This was the only subject I couldn't teach her. What if I learnt the language, then I could teach her this as well. Also, I could take up a job in a school as a German teacher. I came back with the thought and discussed it with my husband.

That week I got myself registered in an Institute to learn German. I loved the language and realised that I had a natural flair for Linguistics. I completed the various levels and started giving tuitions at home. At the age of 40, is when I actually finally got to know that my real passion lay in teaching. It's been 8 years now, and I don't think I enjoy anything more than what I'm doing. For me it's not a job anymore... I spend hours making worksheets for my students.. the satisfaction it gives me when I'm able to help a child struggling with the subject is immeasurable. The best of it all is that I'm my own master and work on my terms. This passion of mine allows me to strike a perfect balance between my profession and family life.

Some lucky people are able to identify their passions early in life and for some it takes a while. But I guess, its never too late:)