I am A STAY AT HOME MOM..That's what I have done best.

My ex-colleague called up crying and lamenting about how hard the lockdown had been for her. With little experience of spending just Sundays at home for the past 20 years, she was at her wit's end, having to juggle with the endless household chores and the demands of the family, which she clearly wasn't used to. Having been pampered by her entourage of domestic help all her life, she suddenly found herself in the throes of domesticity as the lockdown versions increased.

"How can you stay so calm?" she cried.

"I have always been A Stay at Home Mom (SAHM). This doesn't unnerve me."

"You are a Coach, Transformation Expert and a HR specialist, not a SAHM. This is truly baffling."

Baffling, yes. This is my journey, a journey whose origin I have never erased mentally, because that is precisely what propels me to soar one flight after another.

15 years ago, I went for an interview to the same bank I had worked for before I had my first kid. Following is the narration of that interview,

Recruiter : Your resume says you worked at our bank 10 years back.

I : That's correct.

R : I agreed to interview you because I was told you have excellent organizational skills and human management skills. Besides, I am looking for MBA candidate.

I : I have a Masters in English Literature and a proficiency at Foreign language. I can fit in somewhere in the hierarchy.

R : Enlighten me, why do you wish to get into the corporate culture? Besides, you don't have the qualifications that we are looking for. Don't you think an educator's job will be more manageable at your age and considering the fact that you haven't worked professionally for so long?

I : Hmmm. (My interviewer's last statement was the one that gave me courage to showcase my true mettle, after all the recruiter did provoke a sleeping bull).

I : I am a Stay at Home Mom by choice. Last I worked full time in a professional capacity was 10 years ago, but in the past decade I managed to not only raise two completely different personalities, I have learnt to also maintain a fine balance between the 4 temperament theory. I am a Choleric when it comes to home and time management, in perfect sync with my Sanguine self while waltzing through the number of roles as a wife, mother, Parents Representative at School. I introspect like a Melancholic when I need to take financial decisions. I am a Phlegmatic mom to my children because it allows me to fine tune my listening skills, a quintessential skill for a HR practitioner. I am appalled that these skill sets don't figure out much in your checklist."

I had a number of rejections, endless interview rounds where everybody asked me why I didn't have the MBA or some relevant degree. None asked me what I learnt fostering, nurturing, dealing with the "future for tomorrow".

All I wanted was a job at that time since I had the right attitude and a mindset to hone my skills. Someone took a chance on me and offered me to become a Corporate trainer, much to my amusement. He said, "I have the best of talent in my organization , all I need is someone who has the compassion to listen to them and the resilience to go on, no matter how hard the situation might be. In my perception, only a Stay at home mom has perfected that talent."

I told him that my resume was far from perfection and he had the best talent working for him. What he told me next, has been my motivation to serenade through the various positions I have held over the years.

"It is people who perform jobs, not resumes. It's time we stop looking at perfection and strive to nurture talent, foster their attitude and applaud their resilience to hold fort, no matter how difficult the situation may be. Say it with pride that you are a SAHM , but keep your sight at heights you want to scale."

I am a Stay at Home Mom and that's the best I have done and yes, I do have the MBA degree - Masters at Balancing all Activities, besides being a full time solopreneur, coaching clients at transforming their lives and that of their families.