Eat Pray Love
A Journey towards finding Inspiration
This blog is a peek into the 10 year journey of (a certain part of) my life and my close relationship with the lovely book of Eat Pray Love, written by Elizabeth Gilbert.
{This blog is neither written to promote the book, nor to promote the movie}
The reason I wanted to share this story was that I wanted everybody (especially girls) to draw inspiration from the very first real romantic story that I read, and how that inspiring feeling helped me during one of the most dry phases of my life.
Year 2010
Fresh out of college, after reading boring commerce & accounting books; while occasionally distracting myself with a bit of entertaining comical reads; like Archie Comics & Amar Chitra Katha; for a creative child who was an avid reader of Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew during her teenage; I was desperate to bump into something that could inspire me.
Sometimes we need to tingle the creative juices and look for light. Like any other 19 year old, I was asking some basic questions:
What now?
Should I study further? Or not?
We all have these recurring phases in our lives. In 2010, the trend in India: for most of us who were born as millenials: was mostly to allow others, or senior members of the family to choose career options. Studying something that I didn’t organically ‘feel’ inspired to study (like accounting!), ended up pushing me towards a constant & continuous journey to look for that creative spark.
Just like Gilbert, in her book, was constantly trying to fill that hollow in her life that came as a result of making choices that definitely were made by her, but subconsciously those choices were mostly a consequence of the influence of people surrounding her.
The well paying job wasn’t good enough; the love marriage seemed dry; and Gilbert was left wondering what is it that was missing?
My grades were fine, & my life well in Bombay, was envy worthy! I had friends like family. But when it came to feeling really connected to my life; something was missing. At 19, I was left with the same feelings that Gilbert had at 29. A feeling of emptiness, despite making your own choices.
Eat Pray Love Happened
Enamoured with the ability to create a new life; I couldn’t stop reading and re-reading the pages. The story kept inspiring me; how this young woman, fearlessly went on a journey to find herself. For the very first time in my life, I witnessed the possibility of ‘following heart’; leaving an unhappy marriage, taking an year off just to travel and explore, finding true love, AND enjoying new cuisines and places; basically having a taste for life; all at the age of 30! All of this through the author’s eyes. Never had I come accross a woman, so daring that she was bold enough to completely tell her truth to the entire world. And that was the biggest encouragement for me.
During those years, conversations around vulnerability were limited. Girls like me; with newfound freedom and unbridled ambition; were always doubting the
The possibility of succeeding after following the heart.
Gilbert’s personal story was so relatable, because she was this girl that you see every day, working, exercising, trying to live the real city life while keeping the fairytale. The tale of any working girl whether in the city of New York or the city of Bombay.
It was not so much about the travel, as it was about how well she perceived every experience. And because she had given up on everything that didnt serve her, she was free to immerse herself in her healing journey.
A New Yorker, actually believing a healer in Bali, was something so bizarre to an Indian in the year 2011. These kind of instances in her book, ignited my conviction and inspired me to follow through to my intuition. No matter how ridiculous it seemed at that time.
This is something that is needed every time one goes through a phase like this. Because making choices as per your environment is something, we all never stop doing. And every time that we begin to realise how far we’ve come from our true selves within, we take a bolder and stronoger step, and go beyond and make better choices for ourselves.
Elizabeth made me believe that there is something beyond me , that will take care of me if I choose to pursue what my heart truly desires.
SO I decided to always follow what my heart says. Always..
And it has been
A SuPer BuMpY RiDe EveR SinCe
In the Year 2010..
Soon after reading the book and some pondering over masala chaii’s, I realised that not only did I dread returning to the safe and protective environment at home, but also, I dreaded the pressure to again study something my heart didn’t desire.
I decided not go back to Delhi (which is where I have been brought up for most parts of my life); and pursue my dream of being in a big city, while living independently! I called up my boss from my internship period; a savvy banker working in the wealth management department in one of the most prestiguous banks of the country; and bagged myself a full time job there.
Not only did I bag myself a job, I bagged myself one of the highest salary packages on campus.
I finally had the courage to negotiate and demand that I be seen for what I was really worth! And learning that so young, was the best gift, that I could give myself.
Italy Happened at 20..
I did take a trip to Italy soon after bagging the job, with my parents, as a reward for negotiating a salary in a heavily male dominated industry (at that time)!
I worked in the corporate sector for a few years, and finally in 2015 I decided to quit the job and start something of my own.
The Feministaa blog, launched into a Media Private Limited company, (in 2016) and I ended up interviewing multiple women achievers from various sectors without even having a journalism degree! (something that I really wanted to study after school).
Today, I would have interviewed more than 80 women achievers; for my own production house!
Soon enough at 28, I again started to feel those very questions I felt at 19.
Now what?
What’s next?
Raise money or make money?
And then Bali happened at 29!
And I finally decided to make my own money and build a company with steady positive cash flows! I launched my second company with two beautiful people, which created India’s first massive event for women called ROAR; Rise of a Rebel!
And then the pandemic hit us hard in 2020! And I again went for some soul searching and ended up in
Rhishikesh (India)
And as much as I know that every girl has immense power within herself to realise her full potential, sometimes, the world outside us can be pretty intimidating. During such times, it is the real stories of real women, that truly inspire. And Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love, did that for me.
Where does your true inspiration lie? Write to me @ medhamukerji@gmail.com
