Respect without Bias

I’ve never applied for an interview.

Not because I had it easy.

I’ve been broke.

So broke that I questioned if I even mattered.

But I never saw life through the paycheck-to-paycheck lens.

That thought process just didn’t exist in me.

My parents?

Regular Indian middle class.

They never pushed me into things I didn’t want to do.

I got lucky there.

Even when I chose paths they didn’t understand, they still stood by me.

Sure, they felt bad when I didn’t listen.

But I still did what I loved.

Not out of arrogance, but because I had to stay true to myself.

And no, that doesn’t mean I don’t respect them.

I respect them deeply.

Respect isn’t obedience.

It’s being able to walk your path while holding space for theirs.

I never chased titles.

Never waited for performance reviews to prove my worth.

Never followed the “small company to big company” playbook.

So maybe I don’t relate to the traditional career arc.

But I respect it.

Because real respect isn’t about similarity.

It’s about seeing someone’s path without needing to map it to your own.

So let’s stop with the lazy parallels.

You don’t need to suffer to be strong.

You don’t need to come from struggle to have depth.

You don’t need to hit rock bottom to rise.

Everyone’s path is different!

And that difference is not just valid, it’s sacred.