Asha Maisuria

"Verbatim Theater Monologue: Growing" by Asha Maisuria

I am not a confrontational person. It makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. If I am in an anxious environment, it's hard to find the confidence to speak up. I wish I could tell my younger self—have more confidence in your abilities and ask for what you want. I wish I could say how I feel without reluctancy. But I also feel like your “weaknesses” can also be strengths. It is still a part of you. I think with age you start to feel more powerful. And those things just become a little easier. I’ve always enjoyed helping people. I enjoy art and psychology too—so I was an art therapist before being home um with my girls for seven years and then I went back, as an art therapist. And now I run a preschool. Although it’s not the same thing as an art therapist, I still get to help children and watch their creative expression—I find it truly interesting. They never uh cease to amaze me with the things they come up with. Umm, you know they, their sense of wonder, and their sense of curiosity, is very inspiring. And it’s great to be around that. I wish in our world, people would just get along more. I feel like people tend to take sides nowadays “us against them” and, you know, there has been a lot of talk about fueling that fire. And creating hate and animosity. I wish people could just look past that. They would see we have more similarities than differences and you know, this is a very negative climate to be in, to live in. And sometimes a very “fearful” climate, so, you know I just wish-people would look past their differences and become more unified. At the end of the day, we’re all human.