I venture out of my comfort zone. What is exactly my comfort zone-- it is kind of something I define by myself and it goes as; Comfort zone is anywhere I know what my plans are, I have clarity on what would happen in my life, there is a routine, there is consistency and there are NO CHANGES. I have such as bad time adjusting to changes even if it's just the set up of my living room, I don't do well with changes. Coming out of that zone where I could control so many aspects of my life to a new country as immigrant and setting off to a new journey with so many uncertainties is truly scary. Things can go my way or it can go into hundreds or thousands of new direction and all wouldn't be what I like or what I want. This is what I mean when I am out of my comfort zone and every immigrant faces this. This is like the plunge of faith we take when we move from one country to another and restart life. This country, a new one and is so refreshing but guess who doesn't do well with changes? YEP, thats me!!
It is one of the hardest decisions to make when you are doing well for yourself at one place and then you want to move and find better opportunities, take the risk and reinvent yourself. I truly applaud people who have the courage to do this because not everyone is cut out to do so, not everyone want to leave their comfort zone. People are comfortable in their routine, they are comfortable knowing that if something goes wrong at least they are in their own house, they have family around to help and they know every single person in their town who would help.
Yesterday, I started working at a research department at a hospital in Massachusetts. I met almost 20 new people. Everyone is different, everyone speaks different, their accent is different, their mannerism are different. I am in middle of a learning curve and I have been surrounded by so many people who are new and different. It can be scary for someone who doesn't do well with changes and then I also get the fine opportunity to see the life of my friends who were on same path as me-- study medicine, becomes doctors, travel, and buy a car and house and after 2 years of internship live the best life. I made a choice and left this path. I wanted more. I wanted to be a doctor in the USA. I chose to go through more studying, exams, research work, clinical volunteering and hopefully end up in residency in the usa which is a long, somewhat tiring path. People ask me, how I am coping in a new country. My answer is I am too busy. I am too busy to acknowledge that I am in a new country, too busy to ponder over the fact that I am stranger to so many things. It sometimes bothers me that so many things aren't under my control but at the end of the day, I chose this path. This can become the best decision I made about my life and only time will show where I end up. Immigrant life is a choice that only some people choose, this life can be best or worst and no one will ever know until they're on their journeys. At the same time with the busy schedule, few part time jobs, volunteer work and exams sometimes, I pause. I pause and look around of the place I have reached. I pause, breath and appreciate myself for pushing myself to become better, to want more and to explore more. I appreciate my body and my mind to wake up everyday and instead of complaining we look forward to the day, we work hard and we make things happen for ourselves.
Also, there is always always always room to help someone else.
