Wear designer saris, do social service and just chill

 I have an uncle, an influential and powerful man, who likes to give me life advice. The last time I talked to him, he said - " What are you doing killing yourself working hard at a corporate job, running marathons and living away from your family in some other country..." meaning well for me, he continued "...When you can be home, marry a bureaucrat, wear designer saris, do social service and just chill." 

Quite honestly, I was rather pissed when he said that to me. But today is one of those days that's making me question it all. Why did I come here to go to grad school and spend all my life's savings on it. The answer was very clear to me then. I wanted a larger playing field, more options to see where I can grow and become better. I had that wide eyed optimism and perhaps some degree of romanticism about the endless opportunities and great people I will get to work with. And that probably the reason that I threw myself into my work with all the honesty and earnestness I had - living and working in three countries and four cities over six years. These years have shaped me to become the person that I am today - definitely a more mature and wiser person, perhaps better at my job than I was before. I think the most rewarding part has been knowing the people that I have worked with - how some of them were kind and looking out for me even when they didn't have to. 

However, I never anticipated the extent of loneliness this whole experience would come with. How there will be a cost to speaking my mind and the truth as I see it. How my opinions, my suitability for the job I have and sometimes my very presence in a conversation will be questioned at times. What will make it seem more unfair is that a man saying the same thing I said with more confidence and less accuracy will  be accepted unquestioningly without resistance. How after more than 6 years of honest work at one job and 13 years in the industry, I will be sitting here thinking if just heeding my uncle's advice would have been a wiser decision. "Wear designer saris, do social service and just chill" - that does seem like a fun way to live life.