Individuality

I was that girl who could never eat alone at a restaurant. It’s not that I lack confidence. I am generally described as a very confident person but I’ve never had the opportunity to be alone. I belong to a large family with lots of cousins, uncles, aunts etc because of which I always had someone to accompany me in all my ventures.

My personality never gave way to the concept of Independence. Initially, this was a good thing, but as I grew up, it transformed into a negative attribute; emotional dependence.

The effects of this dependence became more prominent as I entered university life, I was a part of a huge group of friends through out school and followed the same group all the way to university. However, the stress of assignments and personal commitments soon made me realise that I was on my own, I tried to cling on for a very long time and maintain the “group life” but I failed. This failure in-turn proved to be the most beneficial thing I’ve experienced with respect to my personal growth.

I got the chance to display my own individuality, explore myself, my inner strengths and define who I am. I made new friends that I never used to before, I learnt to be more humble and let go off my critical point of views and accept people who didn’t conform to my point of views, rather than judging them without any shame.

This last one year, has taught me to be much more lenient, accepting and open to other lifestyles. In this acceptance, my own personality has developed ten folds.

I’m learning new things, exploring new places and expressing myself in new ways.

Looking back at the old me, I feel extremely saddened that I was missing out on so many experiences and so many good people, all because of my exclusive personality.