Like many, I felt pressure from my parents and teachers to go to university and study something academic. With top grades I received at the end of high school, I was almost able to enter any course of my pick. Yet the thought of spending the next few years facing the four walls of a classroom caused a lump(肿块) in my throat.
After a year majoring in photography at university, which was not just what I expected, I made the decision to take a break and go on a gap year. In fact, I gained more knowledge in the real world in four months than I did from my entire schooling, but most importantly, I learnt so much about myself.
One day, my posted photos were noticed by Topdeck Travel, and they asked if they could use some of my travel pictures for their posters. This really was the beginning of my career. I began developing my relationship with Topdeck Travel, and before long, I got my first paid travel overseas to take photographs.
Soon I reached the point where I had to make a decision—either to play it safe, go back to university and settle down like everyone else, or to follow my heart and go my own way—a path with an uncertain future. I chose the latter, and it was the scariest and best decision I had ever made.
Five years after leaving school, I might not have a university degree, a well-paid job, a husband or a house with a white fence. Instead, I'm sitting at my office, with a café by a beach at Goa, India. As I stare past my laptop screen at the sun setting beyond the waves, a salty breeze touches my face.
To me, success is about pursuing my dreams and creating my own path instead of trying to follow someone else's. Somehow, I feel like my life is exactly where it is meant to be.
