Have you ever wanted to change the world?
For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to do something. The only problem was I never knew exactly what it was that I wanted to do. So, I took it upon myself to do everything I could— from theatre to student government to a (very) brief stint in track when I was younger, I took every opportunity I had. And for the most part, I loved it; everything was exciting and fun, and I loved putting in the work to see something come to fruition. But loving everything and doing everything meant that I didn't really have a singular "thing".
You know what I'm talking about— a thing or a niche, something that I was primarily focused on and super passionate about. And so, I spent the majority of my high school years floundering about, waiting for something to call to me like a siren calling to her sailors (except in this scenario, I did not want to crash my ship once I found said thing).
I had about two months left of high school when I happened upon a documentary called "Period. End of Sentence" . My curiosity was piqued: I had grown up in India, which is where the documentary is set in, and had always had an uneasy feeling about the way menstruation is dealt with back home. So, I decided to hole up in my room for the night and watch this doc about periods.
What happened after can be likened to a pile of kindling doused in kerosene being set aflame: This was it! This was my thing! Of course my mother bemoaned my newly-realized obsession with periods and my friends wanted me to stop raging about the tampon tax but I had finally found my passion and I couldn't help but share it with anyone and everyone!
My passion for menstrual equity made me realize a much greater passion in life that I had always had but never really knew how to verbalize— people. My passion, simply put, is people. I care about girls not going to school because they don't have proper access to menstrual products; I care about young boys and girls being forced to crawl deep into the earth to mine mica for the sake of luxury beauty; and I care about the people around me and how aware they are of these situations. It dawned on me that I hadn't been wasting my time doing completely unrelated activities all my life but rather, that I did all of those things because I had an underlying desire to help people in whatever ways I could.
I took my passion straight to college and searched for more ways I could be of use. And it was there that I met a sweet girl who was kind and smart, and had a big heart for people. From the moment we met, it was clear that Grace and I had a shared dream. We wanted to change the world for the better. We would talk about our ideas and reminisce about our personal experiences in different parts of the world, and through it all an idea began to emerge. If we both had this passion and desire, why not do something with it?
I am by no means a passive person and I've always liked solving problems, so when the opportunity arose to partner with Grace and start something that could change lives across the globe— I grabbed it and ran with it.
You don't have to limit yourself to just one field or one interest. You can explore them all. Maybe you've always known what your thing was or maybe you're a floater like me, but either way, you have the chance to pursue whatever it is that calls to you. Sure, you'll make mistakes, have to learn new things, and have to put in a lot of work. But all of that is helping you nurture something that will one day grow into an epic tangle of branches and leaves that will flower the world with real hope and real change.
So here I am, planting the first seed and praying that with a little love and tender care, it'll grow so big that one day, the entire world can rest under it and know that they have the power to shape their own lives into whatever they will it to become.
This was beautifully written. Absolutely love what you are doing!