The Daughter Who Was Never Asked What She Wanted

 

   By  KA


I was born into a home that loved me — but never listened.

A home where dreams were assigned, not chosen.
Where my identity began with “you have to become a doctor,”
And ended with, “you’ll get married at 25.”

No one ever asked me what I wanted.
Not once.

Not when I wanted to be a journalist.
Not when I asked for a phone and was told I didn’t need one.
Not even when I gave up my room, my books, my time — for my brother, so he could study better.

I was told I was a “good girl.”
Good girls sacrifice. Good girls don’t argue.
Good girls disappear into roles — daughter, sister, future wife — before they even understand who they are.

Sometimes, I try to study for NEET.
Sometimes I just stare at the wall, wondering:

“If I fail, who will I be?”
Because I don’t know what I want anymore.
I only know what everyone else expects me to become.

I’ve lived so long pretending to be okay that I don’t know when I’m truly happy or sad.
I just know I feel tired.

Not the kind of tired that sleep can fix —

but the kind of tired that comes from never being allowed to be yourself.

---

 Sometimes, I want to run away to Vrindavan. Or somewhere far. Somewhere I can exist just as I am.
Not someone’s daughter.
Not someone’s failure.
Just… ME. Or whoever I was supposed to be before I was silenced.

---

And maybe, someday, when someone else’s daughter reads this…
She’ll feel a little less alone.
She’ll realize that even if no one asked her what she wanted —
She still has the right to answer.
   
  This article was submitted anonymously by a young woman trying to rediscover her voice and identity, one word at a time.