How a 9-Day Solo Trip Reset My Entire Career Path
A few years ago, I was at a crossroads I didn’t fully recognize. On the surface, things were fine. I had a good job as an iOS developer in Bangalore and a clear career path. But internally, there was a persistent whisper that asked, “Is this it?” I felt underpaid, but I knew the real issue was a mismatch between my potential and my current reality. An inner voice kept saying, You can do more. Push your limits.
This post is the second chapter in my prologue series. If you missed the first, you can read about the start of this new expedition and the ‘why’ behind it here.
Around the same time, a project at work required me to learn ReactJS. I dove in and was surprised by the electric feeling of wrapping my head around a new technology. I realized then that learning new things isn’t just a skill for me—it’s one of the most enjoyable things in my life. The feeling of novelty and challenge was something I was deeply missing.
I knew I needed a catalyst—a circuit breaker to shake things up. So I booked a bus ticket.
The 9-Day Experiment
I didn’t have much of a plan. I booked a 20-hour bus journey to Mumbai, a part of India I’d never seen, where I didn’t speak the language. My only rule was to embrace the unknown: don’t stay in one place for more than a day and just see what happens.
To my friends and family, it was a trip. To me, it was a high-stakes experiment in self-reliance. I didn’t tell anyone I was going until I had already arrived. I even refused contact numbers of friends living in the cities I was visiting because I needed to face any potential problems on my own.
That independence was terrifying at first, and then it was utterly liberating.
In the silence of traveling alone, I realized that the thrill I got from navigating a new, unknown city was the exact same thrill I got from navigating a new technology. It was the joy of the puzzle, the satisfaction of the climb, and the confidence that comes from proving you can handle uncertainty.
That trip didn’t just give me memories; it gave me a new compass.
The Aftermath
I came back a different person. The comfort of my job now felt like a cage. The clarity was sharp and undeniable: my path wasn’t about finding another predictable job; it was about finding another steep climb.
Fueled by the confidence from that trip, I made a decision that sounded crazy to everyone. I resigned. My manager, trying to be helpful, asked if it was about money. I couldn’t explain it because I didn’t have a grand plan. I just knew I had to take a break to learn. My strategy was simply: “Quit first, then sort it out.”
That solo trip proved I could navigate the unknown. It gave me the courage to take a career break with no reference points and no safety net, a decision that became the first real step on this much longer expedition.
That solo trip gave me the courage to take a leap, but courage requires a system to be effective. In the next post, I explain the personal discipline I forged to make progress, and why I wake up at 4:30 AM.