I’ve always been someone who enjoys solitude. Being on my own, doing my own thing, and dealing with life in my own way has never felt strange to me, it’s almost comforting. But every now and then, solitude has its shadows. The silence hits differently. The lack of someone to truly confide in, someone who understands the depth of your thoughts, or just someone to sit with and be. It’s in those moments that I realize how much a friend, or even just one or two, can make life feel a little lighter.

And when I think about this loneliness, I can’t help but reflect on women and the lives we often lead, especially after marriage.

Let me be clear: nothing I write here is a proven fact or professional advice. This is me, my thoughts, my feelings, my lived experiences laid bare. Take it or leave it. Maybe you’ll relate, maybe you won’t. But if even one woman reads this and thinks, “Yes, I feel that too,” then I know it was worth sharing.

What I keep coming back to is this: women, almost by nature or by expectation, dedicate their lives to others, their husbands, children, and families. It’s a role many of us step into without question, because it’s how society has shaped us. But somewhere in that giving, something gets lost. Ourselves.

I see it in working women who juggle careers and homes, leaving little to no space for their own joy. I see it in stay-at-home women who pour every ounce of their time and energy into their families until they forget they, too, are individuals with dreams, passions, and lives beyond the people they care for.

And that’s where I feel the real mistake lies. Not in loving your family, not in being devoted, but in forgetting that you are a person first, before you are a wife, a mother, or a caregiver.

Women have their own lives to live, their own stories to write. And when we neglect that truth, we don’t just lose parts of ourselves, we unknowingly teach the next generation of women to do the same.

So maybe the real strength lies in remembering that your life matters too. Your happiness, your growth, your peace, it all matters just as much as the love you give to everyone else.