Taking a Professional Break to Explore the World of Art: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Creativity

I remember as a kid, my mom and dad used to ask me if I wanted to learn classical singing or anything creative, and I always used to have a one-word answer which was a straight NO. I never thought that I would love art so blindly until 2020 when Covid hit and it just took a 360-degree turn in my life. I was never exposed to art that much until I moved to Bangalore, where I stayed with my dad's brother. My dad loved art, but I never had the patience to watch any art form with him. I always used to beg him to leave when a program started, and not being able to be patient enough to sit for 10 minutes to watch a 3-hour Kathakali program is where I am today.

It had a deep impact on me, and I felt like it had the key to my other side of the world, which I have never explored. I used to see my sister dance every day, and I used to hate it. The hate slowly started turning into something that I really enjoy, and being curious I wanted to know more about its history and what it meant to be. I have heard dance is the language of the soul, and I wanted to learn that language.Now learning this art form, I know that people usually start learning this form when they are really young, and here I am at 25, thinking of doing something different. I really enjoy exploring and pushing my limits to see what I am capable of and yes, this is where I decided to take a professional break from my career to learn dance, and it was the best decision in my whole life that I have ever made.

When I decided to learn Bharatanatyam, a dance form often seen as for females, some friends and even my dad were puzzled. They wondered about job prospects and why I would choose this path. But I believed in following my heart. Learning Bharatanatyam wasn't easy, especially starting from scratch. With my guru's guidance and dedication, practicing 2-3 hours daily for a year, I made progress I never thought possible.

In April 2023, I had a chance to perform at Guruvayoor temple in front of huge public audience. It was a dream come true, especially for someone who used to be scared of performing in public.

Looking back, choosing to take a leap of faith by pausing your professional life and learning Bharatanatyam was one of my best decisions. It taught me to believe in myself, break stereotypes, and embrace challenges.

Exploring my creativity opened up a whole new world for me, unlocking a different perspective and unleashing my artistic potential. During this time, I also decided to take up drawing as well, and I finished my first Inktober Fest. For those of you who do not know what Inktober Fest is, it is an exciting art challenge that occurs in October initiated by the talented artist Jake Parker. In Inktober, artists create ink drawings based on a set of daily prompts throughout the month of October. I took it up as a challenge to draw every day, and some drawings were 7-8 hours, and it was something of a magical feeling that I had never experienced before.

The key things that got unlocked through my journey were: Found a profound outlet for expressing my thoughts, emotions, and life experiences. Encouraged me to explore new ideas and approaches. It helped me uncover new aspects of my identity and deepened my understanding of my own creative potential.

This blog is to show everyone to follow whatever makes them happy, irrespective of the ties that they have or they are being pulled down, just think that the only weight that is pulling you down is your mind. The heavy stone that has you grounded to the ground is as heavy as you think it should be, the minute you feel it as something that you never have to worry about, you get to spread your wings to fly and explore new horizons and embrace what makes you happy.

To all the people out there I just want to say: Go above and beyond & explore the infinity.