We can achieve a lot in life, like building successful careers or making a name for ourselves. But sometimes, even when we're doing all these impressive things, we can lose sight of what really matters. Life is complicated and makes you think deeply, but at its core, it's about figuring out what's important to you, setting boundaries, and sticking to what you believe in. The reason why I'm penning my own story is to create awareness that, like me, there are others who long for the love of their family over the luxuries of life.

It all started with my grandfather who was a shopkeeper in a small village who had seven children with my father as the eldest son. My grandfather put all of his focus towards my father’s studies and spent every penny just so my father could go to a good college. My father graduated at the top of his class and got a job. Step by step my father stabilized himself and ten years later (I was born during these years) he owned four cars, three houses and a franchise of a well-known brand. Now he seemingly had everything a man could desire in his life, money, a life partner (he got married during his college years) and respect. But my father had this hunger for more, which may have made his life but destroyed those around him.

For context, my father was a strict Muslim. He never drank and had a good relationship with my mother. The issues began when my father started hanging around bad individuals, who he thought would help him increase his wealth, but instead, they were a bad influence on him. He started coming home drunk and he would fight with my mother. One day he crossed the line when he acted abusively towards her. 

A few days later, we were shocked to hear that my father had married his assistant with whom he had an affair. Those days were the worst days of my life as my mother had separated from my father and filed a case for my custody. At one point, during the dispute, I was enrolled in a hostel where I would cry at night, and during my vacations, I wouldn’t be allowed to be with my mother. Instead, I had to spend the festivals (‘Eid) with my stepmother. It was a really dark time for me.

After four months of dispute, my father had agreed to name a house and a car to my mother’s name. From then onwards, my mother and I would live in a separate house from him. My parents had a little girl to try and patch things up but all in vain. My father gives more time to his second wife which upsets my mother a lot.

The whole point of this story is that I have been given everything in my life but all I want is for my family to be whole. I am studying in the best school in Pakistan, I have no shortage of cash, cars or anything, but still, I yearn for those days when we would live in a two-bedroom apartment. When we would celebrate my birthday and eat dinner together as a family. No matter the financial conditions we were in, being together was the ultimate happiness for me. 

In my opinion, money is obviously very important for our survival in society, but it is not the only source of contentment. To me, it is evident that money is not the actual source of happiness but what you do with it is. As you get older and start to make your own money, it's up to you to decide whether or not you will let greed and lust stand in the way of your family feeling whole.