Beyond the Book

  I could have been anything, but I chose to be a bride. I often find myself suspended between the desire to be a self-sufficient, independent woman, needing no external validation to feel worthy, and the equally compelling longing to experience romance. After all, since the dawn of time, from the first caveman who dared to love another, the essential pursuit has been love. But what does love truly entail? Is it the act of providing, of making someone feel as cherished and irreplaceable as that ancestral earring your mother keeps locked away in the furthest cupboard? Or is love an adventure, thrilling, at times perilous, yet ultimately a refuge? I still grapple with these questions: whether I genuinely seek love, or if I belong to the generation of women raised to meet their own needs, to hold their own hands, and to rise without assistance. Don’t mistake me, I firmly believe that women in relationships can be equally, if not more, formidable than those who choose solitude. But h...