Stability. All of us are taught and brought up in a way that we yearn for a stable future that brings with itself the promise of a content life. An absence of such reassurance usually leads to anxiety. Cut-throat competition in today’s date sometimes trembles our sense of self, and we lose the sense of direction somewhere along the way.

A Humans of Bombay post featuring Prajakta Koli, the Youtuber commonly known for her handle, Mostly Sane talks exactly about this feeling. 

She starts by talking about her parents, who while they themselves faced significant struggles in life, never expected Prajakta to find something ‘stable’. And, fortunately, Prajakta was never limited to one field. She juggled with several dreams to be able to find her true calling.

“Even though my parents struggled, they never expected me to find something ‘stable’. Our dinner talks were about ‘What does Prajakta want to be today?’ On some days I wanted to be an interior designer, on others I wanted to be a doctor.”

After interning as a Radio Jockey, Prajakta realised she wanted to start her own Youtube channel. She made a video on ‘10 hilarious words Delhites use’, which to her sweet surprise took off, and in 2 months she went from 3K subscribers to 30K.

Youtube

However, it was not a smooth ride to reach where she is today. She faced slumps along the way and lost her enthusiasm to the thought that she just can’t do it anymore.

“It wasn’t always rosy–I experienced a lull in my work. I crawled to get more subscribers! My content became irrelevant. I got lazy & I thought of quitting entirely–I couldn’t do it anymore.”

The turning point came when she made another video, ‘Types of people on Whatsapp groups’, that fueled her journey to reach 3 million subscribers. 

“I realised that everything in life doesn’t go smoothly, but you have to get out of the rut!”
Youtube

There were also negative comments but she wouldn’t let them hold her back, because she knew she was doing something right and her audience loved her.

The fulcrum of her success is addressed to her parents and her team who helped her reach here today.

“I went from being an intern at a Radio station to being speaking at the UN & meeting President Obama, all because of my support system–They keep me ‘mostly’ sane.”

Read the complete post here.

“I grew up listening to stories of my dad hustling to find work & support his family. He did a lot of odd jobs before finding something stable. Even though my parents struggled, they never expected me to find something ‘stable’. Our dinner talks were about ‘What does Prajakta want to be today?’ On some days I wanted to be an interior designer, on others I wanted to be a doctor. Then in 6th grade I decided that I want to be a RJ. For years I prepped for it–it was my plan A. But when I interned with a radio channel right out of college, I quickly realised plan A had crashed, because I was a fairly bad RJ & It was too monotonous. But I got lucky–I found the right people there who pushed me to start my YouTube channel. And that’s when it began. I made a video on ‘10 hilarious words Delhiites use’, which took off! In 2 months I went from 3 K subscribers to 30 K! It wasn’t always rosy–I experienced a lull in my work. I crawled to get more subscribers! My content became irrelevant. I got lazy & I thought of quitting entirely–I couldn’t do it anymore. But my team stepped in & gave me a fresh outlook. They told me to make my content more relatable. Then I made a video called ‘types of people on whatsapp groups’– that was the turning point. We went from 200k subscribers last September to 3 Million this December! I realised that everything in life doesn’t go smoothly, but you have to get out of the rut! There were negative comments too–I was compared to other YouTubers. But I knew I was doing something worthwhile because my audience told me what they wanted, & I listened. They even said that I look better without makeup– loving me for who I was. I took it in & began making videos in my pyjamas. I love my job now because no day is the same. Yesterday, I had my tea in Amritsar, breakfast in Delhi, lunch in Pune & dinner in Mumbai. All because of the people who helped me–starting with my parents, then with my team who became my sounding board & most importantly- my audience. I went from being an intern at a Radio station to being speaking at the UN & meeting President Obama, all because of my support system–They keep me ‘mostly’ sane.”

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