There are no mistakes, only opportunities.

 What is a mistake anyway?

I’d define it as an opportunity to discover a better and healthier alternative for you. Oh yes, a mistake is a camouflage for that more profound inner need to experience a better tomorrow. But unfortunately, we do not see it that way and think of it as an unpleasant setback that we have to whine about, feel discouraged, and fold up

The opposite is true. It’s time to pick yourself up and get that which you’ve always wanted. It’s out there waiting for you.

When I was a little girl, I was a total mess. I didn’t study well. I didn’t walk with my head held up. I didn’t do what I wanted to do because I felt that there wasn’t a chance to make something out of my life, at least then. My teachers had a name for me: The Donkey. I can’t blame them. I behaved like one.

However, I excelled in sports, creativity, song, and dance—but who cared? Those were activities for kids who could afford to pursue expensive passions. I wrapped up, told myself that I was a failure, and would continue to be. Why? Because I was one among six siblings, my parents were on the borderline, and there was no money to throw around. My school fees were paid through the mercy of a Christian fund.

And then my father passed away, mom didn’t have a dime, and I was left at the generosity of my brothers. It was a difficult period, but I learned a lot from that hardship.

· I learned that we do not need to remain where we are unless we are comfortable dwelling in self-pity

· I learned that for every misfortune we live, there is, on the other side, a benefit if we care to unwrap it.

· I believed that if I take control of myself, ask God to help me, and if I worked hard, I could get what I want.

But before I could come to that realization, I was given a gift that changed my life.

The Bible

Stay Alive All Your Life by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

Being an avid reader, I took them in a stride. The more I read, the more I realized that the only obstacle in my way was myself. I decided that I wasn’t going to remain a failure. I was going to come out of the mess and do something about my life.

That decision, along with my belief in God, in myself, and the opportunities available in the universe, I decided to fight and get what I desired. Never mind what the world said about me. They didn’t know the real me.

The real me is a winner all the way.

I studied not just for the sake of studying. I studied to excel. I studied whatever I wanted to study.

When my college professor told me that I missed the boat in french, I joined the Alliance Française with my last resources and studied the language for five years. I enrolled in the University of Madras and walked out with an M.A in French. I got a job in the French Honorary Consulate and interacted with French Ambassadors and Consul Generals. What more, I met up with that French professor during cocktails and dinner and spoke to her in french.

She never knew I was that student who turned a setback into a comeback.

When an English professor called my short story “purple prose,” I entered that story in a nation-wide romance-writing competition and won. Best-Selling Author, Anuja Chauhan edited it, and what more, it was released by Rupa Publications in an anthology: An Atlas of Love.

When I wrote my first novel, The French Encounter, and found no takers, I didn’t sit and tweet my sad fate. I decided to reach out through social media and use my marketing skills. I continued to write and publish. Why? Because every hardship is a learning experience.

We don’t have to accept what the world says about us. We have to challenge them. We have to show them and ourselves that we are the best in our eyes… in God’s eyes.

So the biggest mistakes of my life turned out to be the most significant opportunities of my life

So if you’re out there thinking…feeling that you have amounted to nothing, stop right now. Remember, the battle is not lost until you THINK it is lost.