Does switching job mean switching life?

I quit my previous job to take a break from work and get some perspective as to what I want to do in my life and career. Did lot of research and reading on different lines of work I can get into. Started taking calls from various organizations, it was quite an experience to attend interviews.

Sometime in the month of august I came across an interesting profile. I knew I did not have close to 50% of domain expertise, but still wanted to give it a shot. Had to undergo various levels of interviews and work on case studies, and then I was called to Mumbai for the final round of interview. I had never been to Mumbai so it was exciting and I was also getting the opportunity to meet the team. Everything went well and they made the offer.

I was happy, sad and confused at the same time. Happy that I got a profile that was challenging and there was lot of scope for learning. Sad because if I take up this job then it means I have to leave my city and move to Mumbai. And confused not knowing what to do… This was a big decision for me to make.

I finally decided to leave Chennai and move to Mumbai. It was such a difficult decision; I had to leave the comfort of my home, my room, my dogs, my car, especially my friends. All in all I had to leave my whole life behind. And move to a city where I din’t know a single soul, din’t know the language, no friends, no family and had to find a place to live, which is like the most difficult thing in Mumbai.

I was lucky enough to find a flat close to office, unlike few of my colleagues who travel more than 2 hrs to get to office. I don’t know how I would have survived something like that… I was slowly getting used to my office environment, work, my colleagues and the city. It’s a world of difference to live in Chennai and Mumbai. All this was a different experience for me and I was trying to cope up with the whole new world where everyone was new to me. But life always has its way of showing its true colors.

Its been close to 3 months since I moved to Mumbai and not a day has gone by without me missing my life in Chennai. Back in Chennai I always had my friends around for anything and everything; we used to have loads of fun, outing, dinner, movies. Yeah movies my favorite thing to do… I love to go to the theatre to watch movies sometimes just to eat popcorn I miss all that. I miss being with my friends and just the feeling of being in Chennai.

Sometimes it feels like I no longer have a life. Days go by because of work, then comes the evening its frustrating to go back “home” to an empty house. Weeks are fine I totally dread the weekends where I have absolutely nothing to do. I spend most of the time sleeping zzzz… damn sometimes its feels like I should leave everything behind and take a flight back home.

I know that’s not a solution, I will have to stay back and face it. There is no point looking at the world with anger and miss out on the good things. I like my work, my office is an interesting place to work and my colleagues are nice to me. But the thing is more than 90% of my colleagues are from Mumbai so they have their set of close knit friends and they are not gonna accept anyone over a night. Yeah I know its gonna take time to make friends and get a life. I will just have to accept it and live with it for as long as it takes to get a sense of belonging.

I know I will definitely get over this phase. One year down the line I might not even remember this but for now I feel lost and lonely and it seems like a big thing… I know this might have sounded like a depressing article but this is how life is. It has its own ups and downs and I know it will have more challenging things to offer and make me strong enough to face it…

You always have to give up some to get some…