The hardest thing for any parent is sending their child away. It feels like a piece of your soul is being carried away, and it is such a painful feeling. It seems like just yesterday when Anika came into my life and I stepped into the beautiful world of motherhood. From that moment, everything changed. She became my reason to live, my purpose. Days, months, and years passed by so quickly, and now here we are, with Anika beginning a new phase of her life, her college journey.
Even though we will still be in the same city and will get to meet often, this is not really about distance. It is about a transition, a change of phase. Just like a baby bird first learns to fly and then eventually leaves the nest to live on its own, our children also begin this process. It is a kind of gentle separation, not from parents, but from the home that was once their entire world, so they can begin creating a world of their own.
But at the heart of it all, the most important thing is that wherever our children go and whatever they do, may they always remain truly happy. And whenever life brings them any challenges, they should always know they have their parents and their home to come back to. My nest will always remain theirs. Their room will always be theirs, their place in this home will always belong to them. The new thing which is added now is the wait, the wait for them to come back.
Today I realize what my father must have felt when I left his nest. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he held my face at the airport when I was leaving India to chase my dreams. The pain I saw in him that day, I understand now, because it is my turn to feel it as my own child prepares to step out.
Perhaps this is what parenting truly is—the immense and unconditional love we feel for our children, a love that nothing and no one can ever replace. Maybe one day, when we become grandparents, our children’s children will give us a glimpse of that same love. For now, that moment is still far away.
The story of every mother, spoken from a mother’s heart.
Emotions Unfolded
Unraveling the heart, one thought at a time
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Life: A Practice, Not a Perfection
In life, we all experience ups and downs, and nowhere is it written that everything will always be perfect or normal. Life goes through phases, and we ourselves change too. However, we often don’t realize how much we’ve changed, and then we start to feel like everything is going wrong for us. But if we take a moment to think about it, the situations we could easily tolerate a few years ago might trigger different reactions and perspectives from us now. And that’s completely normal for anyone.
The real question is, what should we do about this? Saying things like “stay strong” or “take it easy” sounds good in theory, but in reality, it’s not always that easy. However, is it impossible? No, definitely not. It’s a practice we have to keep working on constantly. A practice where we focus on doing our best in a situation so that we aren’t as affected by it. Of course, it won’t work 100%, but even if we succeed 25% of the time, we’ll be able to handle situations better. In this practice, we’ll fail multiple times, but the key is not to give up.
We all have a huge opportunity in life, one that we often don’t even recognize as an opportunity our very existence. When we don’t want to miss out on even the smallest opportunities, why not make the most of this major one that life itself has given us? As long as we’re alive, we should keep making use of it. Even our body doesn’t give up easily. If one system starts to shut down, the body triggers everything it can to keep us alive until the very last system shuts down too. So why can’t we do the same? Why do we overthink and worry so much that we end up ruining what we already have?
So let’s start practicing now. Let’s appreciate life and, while we don’t have to accept every up and down, let’s try to shift our perspective so they don’t hurt us as much. If they hurt less, we’ll have more energy to focus on finding solutions. If a solution works, great, if not, then just let it go. This isn’t just something I’m saying to lecture others, I’m saying it to remind myself too. Whenever we express our thoughts, whether by writing or speaking, we’re also teaching ourselves.So, as the saying goes, “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” So let’s face these lessons head-on, knowing that each experience, no matter how hard, teaches us something valuable. We won’t always get it right, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t to be perfect, it’s to keep learning, growing, and finding our way, even when it’s tough. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is take a step back, breathe, and remember that every setback is just part of the bigger picture. At the end of the day, it’s about doing our best, even if that means stumbling a little along the way. Life’s about progress, not perfection.
Emotions Unfolded 