Honouring Our Roles
As society becomes increasingly self focused and self serving, I’ve been reflecting on the meaning of the titles we carry - such as daughter, son, brother, sister and so on. To me, these titles aren’t simply given; they’re earned over time. Just as being a mother or father is shaped through stepping up to its own set of responsibilities; so too is being a daughter or son defined by how we show up and honour our roles.
As life moves on, roles naturally shift. Those we once relied on, may also need to rely on us, and learning to give back the same patience, love, generosity, thought and time teaches us the significance of truly being present in someone’s life.
While I’m making a generalisation, it does feel increasingly common that we live in a society focused on busyness, transactional relationships, selfishness and performance. Many seem to have drifted from older values rooted in family time, real conversation and genuine connection.
Many now juggle heavy life pressures - work, studies, rising costs of survival, daily responsibilities and the chase for things we’ve been conditioned to want. All these things can make it hard to feel human. It can pull us away from the central anchors of life. To shift that, we first have to recognise what’s happening: that society often pushes us toward distraction, individualism and consumption. But the essence of being human lies in our relationships, our service to others and the care we bring to our roles - whether it’s our responsibility to a parent, or the basic decency we owe in our role to a waiter who serves us.
Modern culture speaks endlessly about self care, but true self care is not what the industry sells. This endless consumption feels more like an escapism and distraction than anything else. Real self care is caring for ourselves in a way that we can show up better for the people who depend on us and to move through the world with integrity and being present.
Everyone’s circumstances are different, and not everyone has the privilege of being present in the way they wish to be. But where we can, being of service and carrying out our roles with sincerity and a full heart remains one of the most meaningful and crucial parts of life. Being a Daughter is something that transformed me in the deepest way once I took this role more seriously.
Reflecting on these societal shifts has reminded me that the roles we carry: daughter, son, brother, mother, father, are titles to honour. They each come with responsibilities. I feel immense gratitude for the support I’ve always received from my parents, and I take pride in honouring my role. That gratitude shapes the way we show up in the world, and in a world that grows louder and faster every day, it’s worth pausing and realigning ourselves with what has always mattered. The noise will always be there, but we don’t have to let it pull us away from the values and roles at the centre of our lives.