There are very few people who will understand you like your parents do. This is fact. This is something I learned when my parents understood things even when I did not communicate them clearly, and when I recently broke down while talking to them on the phone.
Yep. I did that.
I really wanted to get off campus for a weekend, and I usually do activities to help me get away from campus and from obligations that come with living on a residential campus – things like debates, and MUNs. Debate weekends help me forget several things and also partake in an activity I thoroughly enjoy.
More specifically, I wanted to get off campus and go to my home city. I don’t think I was homesick, as much as I wanted a lot of familiarity, and I wanted to experience my “summer 2k18” once more.
I looked for a debate in Bangalore. I found one also.
But that didn’t work out. And then I was puzzled about what to do.
I think my parents realized this far quicker than I did, but they basically gave me the blessing to go home. And then I felt guilty. And then a lot of confusion happened, but my father basically comforted me on the phone for a very long time, and told me that it’s okay to want to take a break from time to time.
That hit me hard.
I really needed to hear that from my parents – and I don’t think it’s something we speak about as frequently during the course of the semester. Also, my dad is the hardest working person I know, and to hear him tell me about the importance of taking a break and not burning out was something that brought me immense comfort.
He also talked to me about several other things I didn’t realize I needed to hear from him. And all of this at a time where I was barely communicating clearly.
If you’re ever confused or uncertain about anything, it isn’t overly dependent, or young, or stupid, to call your parents up from time to time. Sometimes we forget that for a while, in our lives, our parents basically took decisions in our best interest – until we became “independent”, that is.
I’m still pretty independent, I think.
But sometimes it’s useful to have their affirmation in decisions I take.
Tejas Rao 