
by Farnaz Dar
Have you ever asked yourself, What if I just went ahead and did what I wanted??As the eldest daughter of a South Asian home, doing what I wanted meant first,considering what everyone else wanted! And every decision went through the everpresent filter of "What would people think!?" I know every culture has theirversion of that...but I swear Desis live by it!!Growing up, I stuck to the script of what was expected of me...I was respectful,reliable, and polite.But truthfully, that was just because I didn't have the guts to go against the grain...which eventually led to a bit ofresentment of having to live to please everyone else! But when I recognized that God had given me the tools to live in a way that feltfulfilled and truthful, I decided that I couldn't care what anyone else thought!Case in point...I stayed in a marriage way, way longer than I should have onlybecause that was what was expected of me! But I wasn't about to live the next 20years the way I had lived the la