Need Love That Lets Me Breathe

Divya sat at the kitchen table, her fingers trembling around her cup of tea. The weight of what she had to say pressed down on her chest like a stone, but it was time. She couldn’t carry it anymore.

Her mother, always present, always loving, walked into the room with that familiar smile. But today, Divya wasn’t sure if she could smile back the way she always had.

“Beta, are you alright?” Her mother’s voice was soft, but there was a hint of worry in it that Divya didn’t want to address. She didn’t want to add to her mother’s worries, but she also couldn’t keep silent any longer.

“Mom,” Divya said, her voice barely above a whisper. 

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to say what she had been thinking for months. 

“We need to talk.”

Her mother’s smile faded slightly as she sat across from Divya. “What’s wrong, beta? You seem distant these days. Is everything okay?”

Divya felt the familiar lump in her throat. She had always been the dutiful daughter

-loving, 

- obedient, always there when her mother needed her. 

But it had come to a point where Divya felt like she was disappearing. She had lost herself in trying to be everything her mother wanted her to be, Always dying to meet her expectations.

“I love you, Mom,” Divya began, her voice shaking. 

“But I need to tell you something that I’ve never said before. I need some space. Boundaries ”

Her mother’s expression froze, confusion clouding her face. “Boundaries? Beta, why do you need boundaries? I thought I was doing what’s best for you. I’ve always been here, always loved you. Why is that not enough?”

Divya’s heart ached as her mother’s words pierced her, but she knew this was the only way to move forward. “It’s not that I don’t love you, Mom. I do. But the love you give me is too much sometimes. It suffocates me. I’m drowning in expectations, and I can’t breathe anymore.”

Her mother’s face crumpled, as if the words Divya had spoken were a blow to her heart.

“I don’t understand, Divya. I’ve always tried to give you everything. I’ve done everything for you. How can you say it’s too much?”

Divya’s tears began to fall, not from anger, but from a deep sadness that had been building up for so long. “You gave me everything, but not the one thing I needed most. You never gave me the chance to decide for myself, to make mistakes. You’ve controlled so much of my life that I don’t even know who I am anymore. And that’s not your fault, Mom. I just... I need to find myself.”

Her mother sat back in her chair, the realization slowly settling in. 

“I never meant to make you feel that way,” she said quietly. 

“I thought I was helping, protecting you. I didn’t know I was suffocating you. I’m so sorry, Divya.”

Divya reached across the table and took her mother’s hands in hers, her voice now steady but filled with emotion. “You didn’t know, and that’s okay. But I can’t be who you want me to be anymore. I need to love you, yes but I also need to love myself. And that means setting boundaries.”

Her mother looked down at their hands, tears glistening in her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you, Divya. Please don’t go.”

“You won’t lose me, Mom. You’ll never lose me,” Divya said softly. “But I can’t be the daughter you’ve shaped me into. I need to be me. I need space to breathe, to make my own choices, to figure out who I really am.”

Her mother nodded slowly, a quiet understanding passing between them. “I’m afraid, Divya. Afraid that you’ll drift away from me. But I can see now... if I truly love you, I have to let you go a little. I have to trust that you’ll come back to me, that you’ll still need me, even if you find your own way.”

Divya smiled through her tears. “I’ll always need you, Mom. But not like this. I need a love that lets me breathe. A love that lets both of us be free.”

The two sat there in silence for a long moment, the rain outside seeming to wash away the weight that had hung between them for so long. Her mother squeezed her hand, a sign of acceptance, and Divya knew that this was the beginning of something new. A love that respected boundaries, a love that allowed room for both of them to grow.

Moral:

True love doesn’t hold on so tightly that it smothers. Sometimes, love means giving space to breathe, to grow, and to be yourself. Boundaries aren’t walls, they are the bridges that allow us to love without losing ourselves. The deepest form of love is one that respects both people’s freedom to grow and thrive.