After leaving her HR career in Delhi, MBA graduate Arpita Sahu moved to Goa seeking a sense of home and purpose. She is sharing the emotional and financial uncertainty of starting over, as social media users offer mixed reactions and encouragement.
After working as an HR professional at companies including Info Edge India Ltd and Cognizant according to her LinkedIn profile, Arpita Sahu decided to quit her corporate job in Delhi after four and a half years and move to Goa. An MBA graduate, Sahu wanted to step away from the conventional career path, find a place she could call home and discover a greater sense of purpose.
However, leaving behind a steady salary and the security of corporate employment has brought financial worries, anxiety and uncertainty about what lies ahead.
She has been documenting her transition on Instagram, sharing the emotional and practical challenges of starting afresh in a new city.
In a video capturing her departure from Delhi, Sahu showed herself packing her belongings and leaving behind her corporate life. The move was not just about relocating to Goa, a popular holiday destination, but also about finding a community and figuring out what she wanted from life.
"I really hope that, you know, this place becomes a place which I can call home. I find my people here. Until that happens, I'm going to keep searching. I'm going to keep looking in every corner of the world," she said.
First Monday without a job brings financial anxiety
The initial excitement of moving to a new city has also been accompanied by the realities of giving up a regular job. In another Instagram video, Sahu opened up about the fear she experienced on her first Monday without having to report to an office.
One of her biggest concerns is how long she can sustain herself without a monthly salary. She also spoke about the pressure to make her decision work, along with struggling to maintain focus and spending time checking Instagram and monitoring her follower count.
"There's an unsaid pressure that I have to do well, and there's a certain amount of money in my bank account which I know will not last for long. My attention span has gone for a toss. I'm not able to watch anything without picking up my phone and looking at Instagram, scrolling and looking at the number of followers," she added.
“Send it to someone who is scared to take that step! Never easy but I hope all worth it,” she captioned the post.
The transition has meant adjusting to an unfamiliar routine without the financial predictability and structure of a conventional corporate career. While she has not shared details of a new professional venture, her Instagram videos offer a glimpse into her efforts to settle into Goa and work out her next steps.
Social media users share similar experiences
Sahu's move has drawn mixed reactions on social media, with several users encouraging her to embrace the new beginning and wishing her best, while others related to her experience and shared stories of leaving conventional jobs to pursue a more meaningful life.
The video has garnered more than 8 lakh views.
One of the social media users said, "Leave Goa its a slow life you need a faster state to be stable. How about mumbai."
Another remarked, "Life has no purpose to be achieved. Death will come anyway—so why not live fully while you are alive? Don't live for tomorrow. Be in the present, be aware, be a witness."
“This is so relatable. You are an inspiration, Arpita. In social media it seems that things come to you easily but the hard work behind it only the person who has done knows that. I am proud of your journey and you deserve to have the fruits of your hard work. You rock girland enjoy to the fulest,” commented an Instagram user.
About the Author
Garvit Bhirani
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X