Since the question itself is quite subjective in nature, I would like to limit it to a series of events and the corresponding takeaways along the way which made me the person that I am today.
I was born as the youngest child in a family of daughters. As I understood it some years later, I was rejected by my grandparents for not being born as a boy. Of course, I had no idea why and how should I deal with the subtle form of neglect that always haunted me, killed me- but years later I look back at it as the first takeaway: Let go the fear of rejection. Don’t let that affect yourself.
The social pressure of being a boy was so huge that I thought life might be a bit easier if I just start to look like one, but unfortunately that only worsened the situation. I got bullied by friends at school for not being “girlish” enough. Such embarrassing moments led me to second takeaway: Strive for excellence in every area because that was my way of answering it to the world what thick skin am I made of.
Stepping into college is how everyone calls it to be the golden years of life. So, I started my engineering in the year 2000 and, like most of us, that was thefirst time I stepped out of home to lead an independent life. I honestly think that specific part of my life really spoiled me, but that was also an opportunity for third takeaway: Unlike how you think of exams in school, passing examinations in engineering was more like a group activity 😉
After getting out of college, my first job was with a small newspaper company. After working there for two and a half months, the company suddenly vanished without paying their dues to employees. So, the concept of earning your first salary was completely non-existent in my life, and there came fourth takeaway: Beware of this strange creature called boss on earth!
Years passed by and during that timeframe, I got married, switched several companies, several jobs but all in all living a decent happy and financially secured life. Particularly, a month after I joined a big software company- I got pregnant! Needless to say, that was the time of great excitement and ecstasy. Before my planned maternity leave, I was marked as a highly critical resource for a huge 5-year project. However when I returned back, I was no longer needed there and eventually got fired! That taught me one of hardest truths of professional life and and also my fifth takeaway: businesses don’t run on emotions. There is simply no place for it.
As of today, I consider myself to be a successful professional working for a multi-million dollar software company and I am proud to say that my learnings and my adversities have gotten me this far. Of course, I did have my fair share of good fortune too, but I choose to be defined as a person who emerged victorious and strong under all circumstances.