As a child I was nurtured, but also pushed. My education and life chances were the most important things to my parents. That gave me a tremendous sense of: what am I going to do with my life? How am I going to use this life I’ve been given?
Some of the things my parents did were tough. They weren’t happy with the education options in Saudi Arabia, so at 12 I was sent to boarding school in the UK. It was hard to be thousands of miles away, but now I feel incredibly fortunate. It was character building. It taught me to be independent.
Nerves are always a part of my life. I don’t necessarily feel them every second I am on air, but I do during the bigger moments – the bigger interviews. There’s always an element of the unknown. Sometimes the adrenaline can be overwhelming.
The closest I came to death was when I was covering the elections in India in 2014, in Aligarh. We went to a political rally and as the sound of Narendra Modi’s helicopter was heard overhead, the crowd suddenly surged forward. It was absolutely terrifying, that sensation of struggling to breathe, all these people behind me. It was Chris, my cameraman, who rescued me. He managed to pick me up and haul me over a fence.
I associate getting older with reaching new heights in my career – and feeling more at ease with myself. I’m 47 now. I don’t worry about a lot of the things I worried about when I was younger. You have the capacity to think: this isn’t the be-all and end-all.
Fifteen years ago, I would have wondered and worried about my career longevity as I get older. But for women in my industry, we’ve really progressed since then. I do wonder what it’s going to be like to hit 50, though. There’s a certain apprehension that might creep in at that point about what old age is going to look and feel like.
People say communication is the secret to a happy marriage. I think it’s more specific than that. It’s so easy to forget the basic niceties. Treating each other with civility is so important.
I try to accept uncertainty – that there are things in life that are going to be out of my control. Whenever I’m faced with an uncertain situation, I always think: what is in my power to do right now? That’s a bit of a mantra in my life.
I’m neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I would describe myself as a realist. I think that is connected to the work I do. I spend my working life trying to establish facts, what is happening and why it matters.
The Skills: How to Win at Work by Mishal Husain is published by 4th Estate, £9.99. Buy it for £8.39 at guardianbookshop.com
