my first job

When I got my first job, I was happy - not on top of the world - but definitely happy.

In my final year, after frantically trying to secure internships, just so I could convert them into a job offer or sitting for every job interview just so that I could get a job, I had finally secured an offer. All those days - anxiously waiting to hear back from potential recruiters, or those days filled with self doubt wondering whether I was actually good enough to make into the top firms - finally those days of struggle were behind me.

Getting a job becomes a important juncture in your life, because till your graduation, you have mostly lived off your parents' income and grown up in controlled environments. But graduating from college is a defining moment because there is a certain expectation that you will now sustain yourself by working a job. You will be finally entering the real world where you have to figure out everything by yourself - food, finances, friends - everything.

I remember I was under so much mental pressure while trying to secure a job. Apart from the FOMO that several of my batchmates were getting placed, inadvertently 'getting a job' had become a test of whether, in the eyes of society, I had been able to make something of myself.

Now, when I look back, I realise how flawed my understanding was. My ability (or inabilty) to secure a job can never dictate my self-worth. One's self-worth is inherent. Also, several factors outside our control determine our success - the economic conditions of the time, availabilty of affordable housing, support structures in place etc.

The important bit was - we were graduating in unprecedented circumstances, and we had to make the best of it.