He works hard, takes almost zero getaways and prioritises his work above his social life. Someone who does not give up easily, nor does he tolerate prejudice. To be honest, our protagonist is no less than Batman. Hailing from the pink city of India – Jaipur and the eldest son of his family, 31 years old Agarwal believes in hard work.
“Being the eldest comes with a lot of responsibilities. I’ve had those responsibilities since I was a kid. We struggled a lot during my childhood, situations like these force you to mature much earlier than you should.”
Agarwal’s responsibilities were so daunting that he never had the opportunity to enjoy his social life. As people say, life isn’t always a bed of roses. It was hard for Agarwal to be hopeful about his personal life thus he gave all his energy to his career.
“I never really had a hobby so I gave most of my time to either learning new skills or polishing the current ones. I’m quite interested in business too. I usually don’t read but audiobooks aren’t bad.”
Agarwal is the embodiment of determination. Even in college, where most students are having fun, he was engrossed in establishing a career path for himself. Agarwal soon noticed his people skills and decided to go for sales.
“I’ve always enjoyed talking to people. I was proficient at it, you see. I wondered what else could be better than sales. So I went all in.”
Agarwal’s career got off to a good start. He adored what he did and always gave his best. Soon he received an offer with a higher salary from a well-known company. He was unable to think of a single reason why he shouldn’t take the offer. Finally, Agarwal decided to join this organisation with many aspirations, dreams, and goals. Though how often does everything go as planned?
“My HR told me on the first day that my work hours are from 10 AM to 8 PM, which was nice. However, I was taken aback when my boss contacted me at 9:30 PM to tell me that the work wasn’t done yet. I mentioned that I hadn’t even eaten yet, but he did not seem to care.”
Boundaries are very important and things fall apart when we fail to establish them. Agarwal could’ve taken a stand for himself but he didn’t want to misbehave with his manager. He further mentions how the company didn’t consider the staff humans. They were treated like machines. They were pushed to work hard but were never shown a proper direction.
“It started taking a toll on me. I felt I am not good enough and probably sales isn’t my cup of tea. But the amount of work an individual has in this company is impossible to get done within the designated work hours.”
Agarwal understood he is not the problem. Although he did need help in handling the situation since he did not want to give up. That too because of bullying. This is when he noticed the emails shared by his HR team regarding their association with YourDOST as their emotional wellness partner.
He googled YourDOST and was impressed with the services and reviews. He didn’t waste a single minute and booked an appointment. YourDOST enabled him to connect with two therapists who later made a remarkable impact on his life – Ms. Divya Kumari and Ms. Sharmila Ghosh.
“I met them in two different phases of my journey. Ms. Divya was quite a solution-oriented person whereas Ms. Sharmila was like the friend I never had. I can never choose one between the two of them.”
Ms. Divya helped Agarwal with practicality. She supported him with solutions regarding scenarios that weren’t easy to deal with. She told him to take a stand for himself. Although, hesitant at first, Agarwal realised that he cannot go on being bullied. Even if it felt like it is unethical to react in a certain way to the boss, he needed to stand up for himself.
“There was no looking back. I started to treat people how they treat me. Only someone who has no social life can survive in this company but things cannot go on like this right?”
On the other hand, Ms. Sharmila lent Agarwal an empathetic ear. She listened to him and understood him. Agarwal who grew up being least interested in making friends, finally realised that it is important to have someone who’ll listen to you and understand you without bias.
“I’ve shared my deepest thoughts and experiences with Ms. Sharmila that I probably didn’t share even with my mother. Thanks to both therapists, I’m in a much better place. I’ve improved my patience but I want to work more on my self-confidence.”
Agarwal wishes for a more humble world. He gives himself a 3 out of 5 on the scale of getting better and believes in the process.
Sidney Sheldon said, “You have two choices. you can keep running and hiding and blaming the world for your problems, or you can stand up for yourself and decide to be somebody important.”
Agarwal chose the latter!
Agarwal’s Warrior Tips:
1.“If someone isn’t respecting your boundaries, make sure to make it look clear to them. Standing up for yourself is always the correct way.”
2.”Stay strong. Stand up. Have a voice.”
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