Shruti Indapurkar - Pune, Maharashtra

 

Before attending the LMAD Youth Conference:

Before attending the National Youth Conference conducted by Let’s Make A Difference, I was just living. I had my fair share of good and bad days but felt quite dissociated from reality.
It’s not like I didn’t feel anything, but nothing felt real. I had read about the concepts of introspection, reflection, etc. and thought that I was applying them but actually was not. The idea of my peers getting ahead of me was another hurdle in my path. To sum up, I had no clarity and couldn’t connect with myself.

During the Conference:

When I stepped into the MRA Centre campus in 2024, I was unsure of what to expect. I was questioning if I would fit in when I saw the amount of people and how everyone came with their friends or family whereas I was all alone. All of this vanished when I realised how welcoming and friendly all the volunteers were.

Everyday a new activity was planned for us which took me deeper and deeper into my inner self which I had almost lost. The conference helped me overcome my fear of talking to new people to a huge extent which helped me engage with the most amazing people.

The group discussions not only helped me learn a lot about myself, but also taught me the gravity of the fact that everyone lives their life COMPLETELY different from one another. I love how the discussions involved heavy topics, but also light hearted simple conversations.

Going back in 2025, I thought I knew what to expect from the conference. However, this year brought a whole new perspective in my life. This time around, I invested a lot of time in myself and went deeper down. I thought I had connected with myself last year, but looking back at it, that was only on the surface level. I was able to write down things in my diary which I could only accept in my mind the previous year, and this changed me in a new way. During this conference, I was able to face myself a lot better.

It's not like I didn’t engage in conversations with other people at all, but in 2025, I was able to spend some more time with myself, apart from the ‘Quiet Time’ sessions.

The 2024 NYC gave me the courage to engage in deeper conversations with others while the 2025 NYC helped me to do so with myself, and I’m thankful that I was given the chance to do it all twice.

After the Conference:

Coming back home, I knew applying the new morals would be hard, but as the days passed, the actual weight of it hit me hard. In spite of all that, my outlook towards life has improved. The teachings being so powerful, I have learnt to accept things in a better way. My biggest strength today is the bond that I share with everyone in my life. I have felt at peace. I have been able to strengthen them all because of Viral Sir and the Let’s Make A Difference family and I’ll forever be grateful for that.

Shruti Indapurkar (Pune)