The Cage of Her Own Making

By Sanika Bhatia

She’s twenty,

but the weight she carries feels heavier than her years.

People call her brilliant—

the kind of girl who always wins,

always comes first,

always makes the people around her proud.

But sometimes, she wishes she weren’t.

Sometimes, she wishes

her exams didn’t scream her name at the top.

She wishes she didn’t crave

the hollow comfort of academic validation,

that she could be just average—

not more, not less.

Enough to breathe.

Because being smart comes with its own price.

For every applause, there is an expectation.

For every success, a loss.

Opportunities left unexplored,

passions shoved to the side—

not because she can’t,

but because she’s afraid.

Afraid to let go of the safety

that being “the smart one” brings.

Afraid to risk falling

from the pedestal she didn’t choose to climb.

Her studies, her accomplishments—

they’ve become her safe place,

her fortress against failure.

But does this fortress feel like home?

She wonders.

She can take the laid-down path,

excel like everyone expects her to,

land the perfect job,

make her family beam with pride.

But what about her?

Will she wake up one day,

years from now,

and realize she gave up her dreams

because it was easier to follow the rules?

Will she regret not trying,

not chasing what might have made her truly happy?

She’s twenty.

She still has time.

She can step away,

choose something else,

choose herself.

But the opportunity cost of doing so looms large.

The “what ifs”

and “what could have beens”

wrap around her like a shadow.

And so she sits,

weighing safety against freedom.

Weighing expectations against joy.

Wondering if she will ever be able to let herself fall—

and finally learn how to fly.

By Sanika Bhatia