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Let’s Get Acquainted!
First of all, thanks so much for being here! In a world that is inundated with relentless news feeds, social media, influencers, advertisements, and all manner of people and things trying to get your time and attention, I am so glad that you’re on this page reading my blog! My name is Shruti. I grew up in Botswana, Lesotho, India, and immigrated to the United States when I was 16. I got my undergraduate degree in journalism and then went on to law school. Since high school, I have lived in Chicago, Boston, New York, and I am now (very happily) settled — of…
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On “Unburdening”
It’s a new year and time for new goals! This year, however, instead of adding to my list of to-do’s, I decided to do an about-turn and actively strike things off! My word for the year is “unburdened.” And I’m framing my goals this year as: “This year, I choose to unburden myself of …” As women in our midlife years, we’re all living such busy lives, sandwiched between rising careers, growing children, aging parents, and whatever time we can eke out for a social life, rest, and self-care. No matter how efficiently we handle each day, we know that…
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On Celebrating our Wins
I recently was promoted to senior corporate counsel at work. It definitely was a career milestone, and I was proud of the discipline, motivation, grit, and skill that went into achieving it. But when I truly reflected on this accomplishment and everything that it took to get there, I realized it really wasn’t just about the career win, but also very much so about the multitude of other balls I consistently, quietly, and artfully juggled behind the scenes in order to reach this goal. As women, we lead lives that are beautiful, intertwined tapestries of all the distinct threads of…
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On Happiness as an Act of Rebellion
There is much literature out there on how to find, create, or manifest happiness in our lives. However, I would like to propose an alternate way of pursuing happiness — and I call it happiness as an act of rebellion. Per this point of view, I encourage us to tap into the feisty, resilient, and defiant sides of our beings, and to think about happiness as an act of rebelling against all the forces in our life that would keep us from it. I think it’s undeniable that a large part of life is what I call “the grind.” No…
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On Breaking Generational Patterns
As we embark into a new year and creating new goals, I believe that one other important task each of us can also adopt is identifying and committing to breaking at least one generational pattern that no longer serves us. This is deep, reflective, difficult work, but it also is so rewarding and can pave the way for profound fulfillment and relief. Whether we are are fully aware of it or not, we are all impacted by generational patterns that no longer serve us. There are obvious and dangerous patterns that most of us are aware we need to break…
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On the Power of Femininity
Growing up, I associated my very feminine attributes with feelings of shame. As I blossomed into adolescence, I could sense that my parents were uncomfortable if I wore anything too short that bared too much skin or anything too tight that showed off my developing curves. They were hesitant to let me foray into various forms of self-grooming, such as waxing my legs or wearing make-up. But as I grew older, I realized that what I felt was a projection of shame on me was actually a deep-seated fear of the power of my feminine attributes and the potential ripple…
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On Being a “Non-Competitor” & “Non-Influencer”
We currently live in a culture with a lot of focus on being bigger, faster, stronger, achieving, succeeding, accomplishing, and generally just getting after more, and more, and more! And we also live in an influencer society, where there’s a lot of value attached to having a platform and having a voice that reaches as many people as possible. But, if left unchecked, both of these can be draining, distracting, and perhaps even detrimental to our lives. To be clear, I am not against competing or influencing. I have competed a fair amount in my life — I competed to…
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On Honoring Your Inner Child & the “Business of Joy”
The year I turned 40, I spent a considerable amount of time reflecting on myself as a young girl and woman. I felt like a new chapter of my life was unfurling, and I wanted to come to terms with the journey that had led me to my current path. And when I thought of myself as a young girl, the first term that came to mind was “badass.” I grew up on three different continents, went to a boarding school in India for two years at the age of ten, immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 16,…
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On Body Positivity
The topic of our bodies is so loaded and also filled with many contradictions and dichotomies. For instance, I will admit that even though I feel very empowered about my body, I still step on a scale every single morning and spend a considerable amount of time thinking about my work-outs and diet because I care about its appearance, which does impact my confidence. Also, I know plenty of women who no matter how hard they work out or how much they control their diets, their bodies will never fit society’s (warped and one-dimensional) standard of what is considered “attractive”…
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On Boundaries & Compartmentalization
I sometimes get asked by younger moms, “how do you do it all?” And there are two words that pop up in my head like a mantra: boundaries and compartmentalization. On any given day, I may have some or all of the following facets in my life expecting — or even demanding — pieces of my time and energy: full-time corporate job, three children with robust lives and schedules, husband, parents, extended family, friends, household chores & responsibilities, various social commitments, and of course self-care and growth (in other words, demands that I have for myself). And the thing is…
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On Traveling With (and Without) Kids
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“People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think this is what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.” I read this quote somewhere and it has always stuck with me. I think that feeling of “alive” is when you truly feel like you’re in your element, and you’re fully awake, aware, and energized. And for me, traveling is definitely one of those times when I feel the most alive! I have always had major wanderlust. Considering that I grew up on three different continents (Africa, South Asia, and…
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On Post-Partum Depression
I’ve always wanted to make a written record of my episode with post-partum depression (a) in case it helps even just one other person who experienced or is experiencing it and (b) as a reminder of how lucky I am to not battle with depression under ordinary circumstances. First, I’d like to say to all the moms out there who got through the first few newborn months without even experiencing the “baby blues,” hats off to you! My first gripe is that society has normalized childbirth and the care of a newborn as something that’s pretty straightforward and just “what women…
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On Professional Ambition
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In 2012, I was 29 years old, working as a junior associate at a fancy, big law firm in New York City, when I read an article that almost brought me to tears. It was an article by Anne-Marie Slaughter published in The Atlantic called “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All.” In this article, Anne-Marie essentially decried the impossible balancing act that working mothers in America are expected to do. At the time, I was a vulnerable, new, mother with a one-year old baby at home, trying to also balance the pressures and demands of being a young attorney in a fast-paced…
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The Feisty FeMOMist 