Indisputably, 2019 has been the best year of my entire life so far. The period immaculately simulated a treacherous roller-coaster with the lowest lows and the highest peaks. What a ride I’ve had and what a journey it has been!
 
I find myself prematurely reflecting on this year because I cannot contain the sheer appreciation I feel. Initially, external factors propelled me outside of my comfort zone. Before I could even brace myself, hardship after another seemed to knock on my door relentlessly. While at rock bottom, I saw the light only in the upward direction, and that was when I decided to embrace my vulnerability.
 
I vehemently impelled myself to engage in activities I would never willingly venture. With time I became more expressive, elaborate, patient, empathetic, authentic and most importantly, I stopped being risk aversive.
 
June 2019, deep in thought during a walk in the park, a wave of guilt struck me. Every day I was studying about the gravity of the climate emergency. I knew very well that the planet is rebelling, and climate change would completely ravage our lives as we live them today. Even then, consciously, I was doing just the bare minimum to help the cause.
 
The unrest within me kept building, I wanted to do more, but my biggest hurdle was my mindset. My lack of self-confidence and insecurities had stood tall before me for almost my entire life. Drowning in guilt, I was reminded of something a senior once told me while on an internship. He said, they were all faking it till they made it, which is why I should never be intimidated by anyone.
 
I decided to take the plunge, to fake my confidence until I actually garnered it. Then I slowly began my preparation three months before the day I held my first ever sustainable fashion sale in Pune, India. Studying in Canada, I was scheduled to go to Pune for two weeks in August. Since I was extremely short on time, I approached thirty friends and acquaintances in India through social media and pitched my intentions. Not everyone was on board, not everyone believed, but the mission I had set up for myself had already begun.
 
For most of the three months, I was working remotely along with my team while also being at university full-time. Work was slow-moving, but we managed to complete our market research and better understand the customer segment we were targeting.
 
When I finally arrived in India, we were just shy of two weeks when all the groundwork needed to be completed. My core team and I toiled persistently, sleeping only three to four hours a night. We were focused, energized and exhilarated.
 
Through setting up ‘Green In You’, our sustainable fashion sale, we were able to encourage people from a strata of the society; who never in their lives had shopped second-hand, to come out and normalize reusing clothes. We built a respectable environment which destigmatized second-hand shopping and sowed a seed for fighting against the 2nd largest polluter in the world, fashion!
 
Besides promoting sustainable fashion, upcycling and extending the lifespan of over a thousand clothing items, we diverted all our profits towards organizations working dedicatedly for women empowerment, sustainability, animal and human welfare.
 
Well aware of the fact that I am embarrassingly far away from even scratching the surface when it comes to tackling the climate emergency, I am keen to embark on more significant missions with the little confidence that lingered on from the sale.
 
I wanted to share my first ever disruptive experience with everyone, because for one if anyone ever feels the same as me, remember to take the plunge no matter what. Second, sharing my story makes me accountable, and just like that, I’ve pushed myself into embarking mission #2.