Knowing what you don’t want to do can be a good path to follow, until you are convinced of what you really want to do!

Many years ago, I was in the usual dilemma that almost all youngsters go through… what stream should I select after my 10th? Unfortunately, there was no Google at that time, and all information available was from relatives and friends. A relative had strictly recommended against arts, stating that I'd be a housewife if I even considered arts. I was keen on pursuing it because Psychology seemed to be of interest to me. But no way was I going to be a house-wife.. therefore, science it was to be. I definitely had clarity that I wouldn't do medicine or engineering, and therefore started looking at options that were more or less close to my liking. In those days, BMM (Bachelor of Mass Media) was a new course that was gaining popularity. Communication, people orientation, autonomous entrance exams and selection process… these seemed to be fitting the bill perfectly for me. I got through in the college that was my first preference and enjoyed the three years. I was really happy that there was a paper in psychology in the first year, and one on consumer behaviour in the third year. Needless to say, those were my favourite subjects, and I also did exceedingly well in them.

In the third year, I had to make the decision of specialization either in Advertising or Journalism – it was a tough call because neither of the two streams particularly interested me. I chose the former, purely because I preferred the skills of the faculty teaching the subjects in advertising. After completing my graduation, I decided to take up a job. Here again, I wasn’t too keen on working on ad agencies because of crazy work timings and demanding routines. I wasn’t really passionate about the stream either. As luck would have it, I had a content writing opportunity coming my way, and before I knew it, I had started my first job as a content writer in a media company. I could survive there only for four months. I then switched jobs to a web-based marketing company, where, within a few months of joining, I was entrusted the responsibility to forming my own team. I enjoyed the interviewing and recruitment process much more than writing. I moved from this organization too. In my career of 7 years in the marketing, content and digital domain, I switched around 8 jobs. Every place that I went to, I realized what I did not enjoy doing. As I grew up the ladder, team members coming and talking about challenges that they faced also increased. Some of them would jokingly tell me that I should have been in the HR team rather than the marketing team, because they preferred talking about their challenges with me rather than with the HR. Bottomline, I still did not know what I really wanted to do.

Realising‌ ‌the‌ ‌interest‌ ‌in‌ ‌psychology.

I think one of the turning points in my career was when I joined a company that was in the business of providing astrological reports to customers as a Product Manager. This role required me to look over all activities of the company, since the product was the entire portal. One fine day, the customer care executive just absconded, and I had to step in until we found another resource. This was the time when I was handling calls of clients that were agitated, disturbed and had a sense of hopelessness about life, which is why they had resorted to astrology. They would all ask me if I was a counsellor, and would tell me how they felt good by just being able to express their distress.

This phase hit me hard – I looked back at my journey, and saw how despite being in product-centric job roles, people orientation was what I was attracted to. I now had to make a decision – either continue the rest of my career in this manner, seeking solace in the people orientation that comes in a product-oriented role, or switch professions. And it was not an easy call.

Shaping‌ ‌the‌ ‌psychotherapy‌ ‌career.

I decided to look for a certification in counselling and psychology, to ensure that my thought about counselling is what counselling actually is. It would have been too much of a risk to do a long-term course and realize at the end of it that my idea of counselling is far from reality. With that in mind, I did a couple of certifications, and fortunately got a chance to work with a professional who wanted someone to take up counselling cases when she was away. This gave me the exposure to handle independent cases. I was fully aware that I had to keep upgrading my knowledge, and do a post-graduation and masters, in order to acquire in-depth knowledge. I did so, that too in unconventional manners, because Mumbai University required me to do a BA, then an MA and then the PG diploma course in counselling, which was an investment of 6 years full time. I did not have that kind of bandwidth at that point of time.

By working, doing multiple certifications (in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Psychological Disorders, etc. etc) and also a PG Diploma in Psychological Counselling from Institute of Psychotherapy and Management Sciences and Masters in Counselling Psychology from IGNOU, I did, and continue to equip myself with tools to help people achieve their goals and become a better version of themselves. My organization is named ReFind You, with the tagline ‘Resolve to Evolve’, because that is our motto!