One day in my shoes...

By: Jennifer Kumar

Coincidentally, today Mr. Obama as the newly inaugurated 44th American president and I both get a new pair of shoes.


Today we both start on the path of a new life. Of course, Mr. Obama starts a new life under the watchful eyes of the entire world. His world consists of everyone on the globe, while my world, happily, is not so expansive. Though we both have different definitions of the world and how our paths in life are scrutinized, we are both starting something new today. In fact, as I entered the college today for my first class at 7:30am, I was surprised to see all the students already perky and ready for their day. Definitely a different atmosphere from when I studied about ten years ago- students were not hanging out eagerly waiting for class to start at 7:30 am. It was clear to me, it was not just Mr. Obama and I who would be wearing new shoes today, but these students and all others who would be starting or going back to college today after winter break. Today marks a fresh start for many.


The class I was ready to start was Introduction to Entrepreneurship. It’s true I won’t be scrutinized or hounded by the entire world to do my job, make change or inspire hope, as Mr. Obama is. But, I will be encouraged and challenged by my family, my classmates and my peers in my new venture. I am going back into the walls of a classroom to break free of the walls of the cubicles I have known for the past almost 10 years.

Maybe the life of a cube dweller has not hardened me as much as the veterans who have seen the same or similar cubes for the past fifteen, twenty, thirty or more years, none the less, the life of a ‘cubie’ is not for me. Being in a cube stifles me in many, many ways. It was indeed a valuable experience for me to be in those cubes. I learned a lot about how to apply my education in the ‘real world,’ I learned about work-life politics, and I learned about work-life balance. The problem with all this learning is I remained unable to integrate all this learning into a lifestyle that I wanted for myself. I would drive home from work wondering why I had to separate work and home life. Why could they not be integrated? Why did I feel I had to play a charade to get ahead? Why couldn’t I act natural, normal and authentic at work? Why did I feel as though I was acting out someone else’s script at work? Why did I feel as though I was the star in someone else’s movie, and why did I feel that in doing these things I was not walking in my shoes, but someone else’s shoes? Though I went to college and fulfilled my dream of living in India and earning a Master’s degree in India, why did it feel as though as soon as my work life began, my ability to make my own dreams come true was quenched? I began to wonder, if I worked for someone else was I making their dreams come true and not my own?


To that, I found out, the answer was without reservation, YES!


Now, I get a chance to change that. I get a chance through this scholarship and the abundance and prosperity in my own life, to make a change. Now I get to remove the shoes of my former employers and wear a new pair of shoes, my very own shoes. I get to not only walk in my own shoes, but stand on my own two feet. Standing on my own two feet to me also means I can “walk the talk”- or I can live my life more authentically to who I really I am. I don’t have to script my conversations with anyone to please my boss. I don’t have to sit in the cube until five pm though my work is done. I can find my own new projects to do; I can determine what I am going to do, what I am going to say and where I am going to go next, on my own two feet, in my own shoes.



Thank you for reading.

Have an enjoyable day!

Related Posts/Sites:
Photo courtesy Amy the Nurse @flickr.
Educational Entrepreneurship: The First American To Matriculate at Madras Christian College