Becoming, with Grit
The name “Obama” takes one back in time to 2008–2016, with the ‘then kids’ vaguely recollecting some or the other article, YouTube Video, news headline or speech on television, and with adults who religiously kept up with the news, distinctly recalling the period to have been timestamped with effective implementations of policies, laws and thoughtful initiatives.
It was late in the night and my eyes were half shut as I aimlessly tapped the application icons on my phone as I tried to put myself to sleep. I landed on Netflix, and stumbled upon a documentary by Nadia Hallgren, with the attention drawing, awfully familiar face of Michelle as the cover. The title read Becoming. My mind divided between Sleep and Becoming, my instincts chose the latter. ‘One hour and twenty nine minutes’ screen time later, I felt the need to know more. Not just the factual bits and pieces I knew I could get from articles on Google, but the struggles and challenges, the choices, the battles and dilemmas that made her Become. And so, for the next few says I sat glued to my phone, during morning tea, before and after lunch, and late in the night to read unstoppably.
What Becoming by Michelle Obama has to offer is not just limited to her family’s tenure at the White House over a span of 8 years. It isn’t much of a surprise that she dotingly narrated her life in the voice of the former First Lady, in a book she authored. It is the lesser known facts, her journey in the formative years of her life, that compelled me to keep turning page after page even as I continued to yawn, sometimes squint at 2 AM in the morning, barely managing to keep my eyes open.
The read can mean different things to different people.
It is a delightful read for anybody who appreciates language and enjoys creatively crafted expressions in an anecdotal, reflective style of narration.
An inspirational read for working mothers, struggling and striving to make ends meet with children to raise.
An extremely empowering and invigorating read for those subject to black discrimination and cornered upbringing with limited paths to tread.
Yes, an insightful read for any well-to-do, established individual who is bold enough to want to switch careers, but is uncomfortable about leaving a comfortable and stable lifestyle behind.
And a reassuring and hope inspiring read for couples working through a difficult patch in their marriage. (Almost as if to tell you ‘They could get through it, you could try too’ just when you start to think ‘ I don’t think we can do this anymore’.)
The book is a disguised guide on how to parent your kids, what kinds of values to feed them with, and more importantly, how. The book lets you draw the strength to fight through the odds; make yourself visible and noticed in the right ways; and emerge a bold, fearless, determined- to-succeed individual. It reiterates how some choices can be grueling to make. And how almost always, it will bring along with it some floundering and some roadblocks, before it starts to feel rewarding. It teaches you how to persevere through stormy nights, steer through feelings of dejection at your first failed attempt at LSATs and GMATs, dismiss thoughts that can get you overworked, and attend to feelings of others that require you to be empathetic.
I personally couldn’t have read this book at a better time. Caught amidst a pandemic, floating in a sea of ‘ What If’s’ left me exhausted with overthinking. Reading this book left me fearless, optimistic, hopeful and driven.
