Journey from OR to AND

Often we women are stereotyped in one or other form of labels. She is either just a housewife or a daughter or mother… what about her own identity??? What about her other qualities??? Why should a daughter forego her duties towards her parents after her marriage? A working women is always labeled as a working women, inspite of the fact that she manages her home AND her work. A work from home women is never taken seriously as she works from home, as she never ventures out. A woman can be a daughter AND a mom AND a chocolatier AND a blogger AND lots more of other roles. Why stereotype women in only 1 role???

Gillette along with Blogadda introduced a activity called #UseyourAnd which truly inspires women to break free from the stereotype casting of the labels and proudly showcase their identity using And.

I was always used of being labeled just as my parent’s daughter. After marriage, so-and-so’s wife or daughter-in-law. After my daughter was born, I was labeled as her mom. I was tired being labeled or referred as Prerna’s mom, or Rajesh’s wife or Ravi and Saroj’s daughter. It was like I don’t have my own identity. That’s when I was introduced to the blogging world by my best friend. And I decided to be a blogger, just so that I can express myself as and how I like.

It is always little difficult to take a stand, as in our country after marriage a girl always has to follow the duties of a daughter-in-law and forget all her relations and friends and ties before her marriage. When I started to write, I was always reprimand that I am neglecting my kid and I need to choose either to be a mom OR a blogger. Why is that it's always we women who has to choose from either of the roles? Finally one fine day, I woke from my deep slumber and told myself, to take hold of my life’s steering and don the labels of my life with pride.

So I proudly say I am a daughter AND a Mom AND a blogger AND freelance content writer.

Letting others take control of our life is easy but taking back that control is really tough.

The icing on cake was, few days back when my parents had gone to our native place for some work, one of my college professor chanced to meet them. He was the one who came upto them and asked “Aren’t you Aparna’s parents? I am her chemistry professor. She was one of my best and brightest student”. For next half hour he just enquired about how his once favorite student is faring in life. That really made my day memorable and my parents proud.

This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.