BY SHILPA AMBRE
CFO, The 120 Media Collective
Deep diving features quite literally in my life and career. I love the surreal surroundings of the underwater world…. the refracted colours, the buoyancy, the peace of floating weightlessly and a mind washed clean of any thoughts. Simply therapeutic!
In close to two decades of my career in finance, I have often turned to a couple of dozen laps everyday underwater to cut away the noise and the mental chaos. As a discipline, swimming is an integral part of my fitness regime. However, apart from the physical aspect of keeping in shape, the activity also helps to de-stress and clear my thought process. My earliest experiences while learning how to swim have come to my rescue in problem solving in every sphere of life – whether making sense of the stacks of numbers or complexities of regulations that apply to activities in the industry.
Having been a part of the creative industry for a while now, the digital world especially takes the power of imagination far beyond the apparent. At the 120 Media Collective, where we are all encouraged to take some time off from our work day to pursue our passions, a journey underwater helps to collect my thoughts and face challenges with a fresh approach.
I realized very early in my current avatar that in a highly charged creative environment, even the finance department is not meant to be a sanitized zone of numbers and bespectacled silos. In fact, in an open and buzzing flat office that celebrates contemporary design and relaxed seating, 120MC made me change my own perspective as a CFO. While fiscal prudence and discipline are core to my job, energy and creative problem solving is where I am expected to make a difference. And that’s when, increasingly, I feel the need for the calm that my underwater escapes afford me.
Not just for the mind, the exercise also keeps me healthy. Fitness and staying in shape is an infectious passion when you see so many of your colleagues competing with each other, despite an often round-the-clock work schedule. It’s about feeling good about oneself and de-stressing during a whirlwind day. What better than to disappear from the world for several 40-second dives, where even you own breath falls silent?
It indulges my various inclinations – a life-saving skill, an art, adrenaline rush or weekend leisure with the family. The effort of the activity makes way for the discovery of so many wonders that nature has to offer. And the best part is that it isn’t bound by time or walls. In fact, I often tell colleagues – I want to be the first CFO to cross the English Channel!
Feedback: Shilpa.ambre@the120mediacollective.com
