Queen of the Comeback on speaking up
Bahl has completed an MS is finance, is founder and creative director of media company Parallel Circles Entertainment as well as author of the book The Queen of the Comeback, following her own struggles with severe clinical depression, which is what triggered the switch and led to her following her calling to help others take immediate control of their mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny.
Her weekly episodes on The Game of Life TV are intended to leave viewers more motivated, inspired and equipped to turn their dreams into reality:
Quite the powerhouse, here’s how she does it…
How did your personal battle with depression inspire you to initiate your quest for personal leadership, empowerment and intentional living?
When I was fighting clinical depression, like most other people, I was in the typical “Why me” victim mode. I spent most of my time finding people to blame for the situation I found myself in. Somewhere in the fourth year of my fight against depression, I was introduced to a network marketing business. As a result of that, I was also introduced to the world of motivational CDs and self-help books. I completely got hooked on to reading the books. In fact, I spent an entire year just sitting at home, and reading books. I read close to 300 books because I was desperately looking for the answer to my “Why me” question.
One day, I came across a book called Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. I loved the contents of the book and I had a huge urge to look up Joyce Meyer so I went straight to Google and searched for her name. What came up was a Youtube recording of one of Joyce’s many women’s conferences. I started watching the video, hoping that something she might say in the video would give me the answer that I was seeking. Half the video went by and there was nothing – I was disappointed! Nevertheless, I kept pushing myself to keep listening. Somewhere around the 40-minute mark, a lady in the audience raised her hand to ask Joyce a question. To my shock she asked Joyce the exact “Why me” question that had been playing in my mind. I was so excited! I still remember that moment, I felt a chill go down my spine, and I had goosebumps all over my body.
I jumped up on my seat eagerly waiting for Joyce’s response. And then Joyce said something that changed the entire course of my life! She said, “You hurt, you heal, you help.” Her words resonated with me so much that they went straight though my heart into my whole being.
Those words from Joyce’s mouth changed the entire direction of my life and made me the person that I am today. I have never met Joyce and she definitely has no clue that I exist. But, six words from her mouth – “You hurt, you heal, you help,” changed my entire life. This is when I began my quest for personal leadership, empowerment and intentional living.
How does your book The Queen of the Comeback inspire and help others battling depression and other mental illness?
Self-improvement books often promise to help others become the best version of themselves. But The Queen of the Comeback stands out from the pack because I have lived out its core philosophy. Through my own trials and tragedies – going from the heights of massive success to the depths of severe clinical depression – I learned that if we change our self, we can in turn shape our world and create the quality of life that we truly desire and deserve. In the book I present a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. I elucidate the fundamental lessons of self-mastery that will enable the reader to discover their true self, take control of their life and harness the forces that shape their destiny.
The book includes stories of vision and belief, passion and persistence, struggles and setbacks of seven individuals that became key players in their domain. Each of the stories is from a different field and presents a different face, yet the soul remains the same – the ability to fight against all odds to come up victorious. Through these stories I reveal a pathway for living that empowers the readers to adapt to change and gives them the wisdom to take advantage of the opportunities that come with each and every obstacle in life. The book’s message is simple – Don’t surrender to misery another day. Take steps towards unlocking and unleashing the magic inside you and create your own breakthrough to a magnificent life!
Such a powerful truth and you’re living proof that it can be done. How do you then achieve that elusive work-life balance?
My strength is goal setting, strategising and time management. I leverage the strengths of my entire team through effective delegation. To begin with, I hire only the best people to work with me, whether it is my staff or my associates and vendors. I believe in creating value for my people, so I am always ready to give more and take less. This enables me to not only retain my people but also demand the best out of them. Which means, I don’t need to spend too much time in my businesses. My training and coaching business is where all my attention goes. All other businesses either have partners, associates or employees who take care of them, and all I need to do is maybe visit the office once every month or attend the client meeting when my company is engaging with a new client.
As far as managing time for my personal life is concerned, I start my day early in the morning. That’s when I do my planning for the day ahead and set up my goals for the day. This is also the time when I do most of my writing. Then I spend my day engaging with my training and coaching clients through various social media platforms. I typically do one free seminar or webinar every week and I do two live weekend workshops every month. Apart from that I take up two to three speaking engagements in a month. That’s not a whole lot of work really, so I’m not busy through the day and have the freedom to design my own schedule. I like to balance my life on a daily basis, and I do this by watching movies and reading because both these activities are super relaxing for me.
Aha, but you do have more on your plate – talk us through the origins of your media company, Parallel Circles Entertainment.
After six successful years of a financial corporate career in the United States, Europe and India, I realised that number crunching was not my passion, even though I was brilliant at it. So I left my high-flying corporate career in 2005 and began to explore my other interests.
I took to full-time theatre with Ank Theatre Group in Mumbai and performed in numerous plays under the direction of the late Shri Dinesh Thakur at the famous Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai. This is where I was offered a freelance job with a media company. During my stint with them, I literally did everything for their corporate client vertical from idea initiation, client servicing, creative direction, and job execution to final delivery. I started loving my new work so much that I took the decision to start my own media company, and this is what led to the birth of Parallel Circles Entertainment.
I formed Parallel Circles Entertainment in 2006 with an intention to produce quality content for the corporate sector, as well as TV and cinema. As the founder and creative director of Parallel Circles Entertainment, I had the privilege of working with some of the best names in the corporate industry, such as P&G, Gillette, E-City Films, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Neev Group, Voltas, Akzo Nobel, CRY Shiksha, Zoya by Tata and many more.
Seems Bahl’s certainly found the secret to successfully living her best life and bouncing back from life's many obstacles.
Contact Bahl through the following channels for more: email | web | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
About Leigh Andrews
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