I gave up wanting to belong and embraced being a maverick. I have never felt more free | Dhruti Shah
After years of changing myself to fit in at school, university and work, I’ve accepted that I don’t fit the mould – and that it’s OK
It doesn’t matter where I turn up, I can never suppress my own particular brand of weirdness. Friends have described me as a maverick, and I will admit I’m unique – or whatever other label you might choose to describe being different from the herd.
In a majority white environment, it might be my brown skin and my mixed Indian-Kenyan-British heritage that sets me apart; in male-dominated spaces, it’s being a woman that marks me out. Elsewhere it’s my education, my west London twang or even my Jain faith.
Dhruti Shah is an award-winning writer and the host of the Have You Thought About podcast. She is also the author of Bear Markets and Beyond: A bestiary of business terms