For this week @LadiesofHive - Contest - #175 I have proposed these 2 questions.
1️⃣ A Woman is always expected to make sacrifices for her family. Have you ever sacrificed anything important for your loved ones and never spoken about it? Would you like to share your story with us?
~ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 / 𝐎𝐑 ~
2️⃣ Travelling brings so much freedom. Have you ever been on a solo trip or would like to do it in future? Share your experience with us and what advice would you like to give to other ladies here to have a successful solo trip.

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As a woman we are always expected to make sacrifices at every stage of life. There will be some where we will have choices and some where we will have no control. In my life also I had to make a couple of sacrifices for my family but then I have never regretted any of my decisions because they have been informed decisions that I have made for myself.

Once such part of my life that I let go is my Job. When my husband got a job offer in Oman, at that time back in Mumbai I had a very good high position job. I was a Senior HR Manager at one of the best IT Companies Accenture. It was a job of power and position and very good money. At the same time there were other conditions around me in my life which I was totally fed up with and I wanted a change of environment. When he got this offer I was in a total dilemma of what to do, whether to continue with my job and let him go or leave my job and accompany him. It was a very good offer for him so we could not even turn it down. I have never believed in staying separately from him even if it is for work, because then I feel a marriage makes no sense for me.

In the end I had to make a decision of quitting my job and accompanying him. It was with a very heavy heart that I made that decision because the job also meant a lot for me. It also meant that I was going to be without a running income and I would have to ask hubby for every single need of mine. In Oman it is not very easy for expat woman to get a job because of their Omanisation policy, I was thinking that with my such strong work experience of 20 years I will be able to get some or the other job, but that did not happen. I kept trying for a year and nothing worked out due to the strict work visa regulations and at that point of time I was very disappointed with my decision of quitting my job.

At that time I decided to start my own HR - Consulting practice and that started working well with me. In the beginning I got some small projects and then gradually I also started getting clients from other middle east regions like Dubai. Now after 8 years when I look back at that time I can totally understand all of it. It was all meant to happen for me to reach to a new level of life. Today I do work from home on my own terms and I am free to make my own decisions. With all of this I also get more time to work on my other part of life which is my Crystals and Healing work.

Sometimes what looks like a sacrifice will also be a blessing in disguise. There are times when I do miss the corporate environment but then what all I have got in return of that is much more. In the last 2 years I have cut down on all my HR projects also since I want to completely get out of that now and only focus on my Crystal work and other passions of life. Today if someone gives me a full time job with a 10 times high salary also I will not want to take it up.

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Solo Travel - If you have been following my blogs you will know that I enjoy travelling and I enjoy my solo trips a lot. From my jobs I used to travel a lot for work, international and within India all of it. In the initial years I would also have some office colleagues accompanying me but then there were some trips which I did all by myself.

My very first solo trip was to Paris, it was a week long trip from which 3 days was work and then I had extended it by 4 more days as a vacation. I was nervous and excited at the same time. Before that I had made several trips in other parts of Europe so I had some knowledge about the travelling part in that region.

In that time the mobile phones were the basic ones so there were no google maps and other assistance. I had to plan everything well before I took off. I had done thorough research on the internal travel part and planned day wise all the places that I wanted to visit.

Honestly I did not do too much of planning also, I was just prepared with what all I want to visit in Paris and how I will be commuting there. It was a wonderful time that I had with myself. When I travel with family, I have to do the packing and unpacking for everyone, then take care of their needs and all the hassle, plus we have to make all collective decisions, but here I was all by myself, I had no one's work to do. At the end of the day when I would return to my Hotel, I could instantly crash in my bed. Morning wake up at my own time and plan my day the way I felt good.

While visiting different places, I would meet people interact with them, which when I would go with family it will never happen, because we are all so involved with each other only. I was feeling the freedom for myself of doing whatever I desired, that is the fun of solo travel. Honestly I did not miss anyone in that 1 week, I was so happy all by myself.

Here are some beautiful memories of that trip.
Exploring the Palace of Versaillies

I fell in love with it the very first time I saw it and every evening I would come here to spend my time :-)

At the Louvre

After this one I had good amount of confidence to travel alone in any part of the world and I did a couple of trips myself. This one will always be my special because it was the first one and I found all my confidence in this place. My next solo trip is coming up in May where I am trekking up to the Everest Base Camp. I am so excited and looking forward to it.

Thank you for visiting my blog. 👼🏻👼🏻💖💖🌹🌺🌸

"Unlimited Abundance, Blissful Happiness and Unconditional Love"

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