She constantly craved for acceptance. From her friends, from
her extended family and from everyone else she knew.
For her friends, she needed to be the person she could never
be. They wanted her to drink with them; they wanted her to ‘hang around’ with them at odd
hours for all their visits to the latest hot-spots in the city. She felt out of
place. She never understood how people who were once friends now saw and made
her feel like an outcast.
Her extended family thought of her as an over achiever. She,
for them, was a woman who was too ambitious, career oriented and strong. Strong
women like her don’t make great wives or daughter-in-laws, they believed and
said. She learnt to cook like a pro, take care of a home like a seasoned wife
and to entertain guests like a trained hostess. Still, it was never enough. She
was never good enough.
She kept juggling in her many roles. Spending time with her
friends now felt like a burden. Going home wasn't an option on most days. She kept
looking for ways to balance out the career-woman, homemaker and pub hopper
roles.
Once when she looked back on her life and her achievements,
she found nothing. She had no identity of her own. Trying to be so many people,
she had stopped being the one person she had always wanted to be – herself…
