Photo Courtesy: pathwaystogod 

It has been a while I started creating this piece, two winters passed and still I struggled for my content to be worth a read to put it here. From a very early age of our life, we have always been taught to label things in our surroundings. We are taught either the things are organized or chaos, white or dark, tall or short, beautiful or ugly. And being/choosing organized, white, tall and beautiful are labeled right, while being/choosing chaos, dark, short and ugly are labeled wrong.  But, how can being/choosing the things that are labeled wrong are actually a mistake?

This labeling has programmed in some permanent codes now; even the initial programmers must perform a series of step to remove that. If I have to talk about my experience on labeling, I would like to share my story.

I dreamt to be a Miss Nepal during my adolescence and I always wanted to be popular and be at the spotlight on stage. I have always loved spotlight, I felt the rays of success falling on my face like fresh fallen rays of sun penetrated from the Colin-washed glass windows. While growing up, Miss Nepal contest was like a home to me where I dreamt to live, a platform from where my voice would be heard and a place from where I can reach people. However, my ‘big dream’ shattered…When my height stopped growing and it stopped at 5'2.

So I was labeled on the right side. Oops! The wrong side; short side and I came to know being on the right side is usually the wrong side. It is not only about me, not about the girl who was pampered today for not wearing any make for audition today, not about the girl who was slammed for not having a proper dressing sense last year, not about a girl who was criticized for her opinion before, rather it is all about us, all about womanhood.

Womanhood is not about perfection or having a face with perfect jaw line, toned cheekbones, and white underarms. It is all about the imperfections and flaws we have in us. Our flaws make us who we are and honestly we don't give up on things that make us ourselves.

To the woman sitting nervously on a chair alone and to the woman sitting confidently on the other side. I know it is difficult for you both to put forward your opinions. To the one breaking the taboo and to the one sticking to it, it won't be easy. Lifestyle is a choice, so is makeup, whether we wear it or not there should not be any concern of respect attached to it.

I know it is hard to fit in everywhere and to seek perfection is okay. But there is nothing in this world that is perfect. I learned it when my perfect dream shattered. However, I have found a way to get my voice heard. And to every girl what I want to share is that there are no standards that you should match up and it’s absolutely not a problem being/choosing the things that are labeled wrong by our society. The virtue of being a human is having that flaws and errors, yet embracing those imperfections because they belong to us and make us who we are.