THE OUTER VOICE COMPANY [Philly] Religion has also been an interesting journey, but it’s something that has been so close to our hearts forever. Our family, where we come from in India, is just a very religious place, and that carried over when they immigrated to America. In our family, religion is everything. We grew up going to church every Sunday and going to some grandparents' houses for the prayer meeting. Even our versions of parties with families always started with prayer and some sort of song. Reading the Bible, too. It was in everything that we did. So, I had an interesting relationship with it. I was never as religious as I am today. I think I needed to have my own journey to reach where I am because I was more or less a passive Christian. I did what my parents told me , but I never really connected on a personal level. As mentioned, the negative situation of junior year brought me closer to music, but it also allowed me to get more in touch with my religion. People have different ways of handling something like therapy or journaling but I use religious prayer specifically as the most therapeutic thing I can do. That's the best way for me to kind of deal with fluctuations in my mental health. So, whenever I'm going through a stressful situation, I sit down and pray. Honestly, I walk through life, and I'm constantly praying. I feel like that really started junior year because it was a realization: “Wait, I'm not alone at all because God's always there for me.”
I would point to our parents. I love the theme of duty because we always described them as both living very dutiful lives. Because of the values they instilled in us, we knew that we always wanted to help people, be kind to people, use our voices to empower.
128 | THE INDIAN STANDARD
