“Live life for yourself, not for others”, ‘’Don’t make sacrifices, people for whom you made them will not need you one day”, “love yourself deeply” – I have come across several such messages in context of diversity and women empowerment.

Honestly, these statements bother me. Will ‘living life only for self’, ‘loving self too deeply’, ‘caring only for self’ not make one selfish? Totally self-centered?? – doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or woman!

On the other extreme, I have seen women who dedicate their lives to their family. Their needs and preferences – if at all considered – are always put behind everyone else’s. They practically live their lives for others. At times, I have seen them feel hurt at being taken for granted, but I have not seen them do much to alter it.

The key is about defining a middle path: ‘loving yourself, but loving others too’, ‘including others in your life, even as you live life to the fullest’, ‘willing to give and open to take’. Guess what makes it difficult is that, unlike the two extremes, there isn’t a prescribed middle path. Every woman has to carve out her own middle path based on her context, preference and needs. More importantly, be cognizant that middle path is like a meandering river, continuously changing and evolving through the journey called life.