Since it’s Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to talk about what it was like growing up in a South Asian/Indian immigrant household where emotions and mental health weren’t really openly discussed.

In this episode, I share personal experiences around emotional suppression, survival mode, being told to “be grateful” or “don’t think too much,” and how those messages shaped the way I learned to process emotions and view myself.

I also talk about starting therapy during the pandemic, learning more about myself emotionally, and realizing how many emotional patterns I had normalized growing up.

A conversation about mental health, emotional conditioning, therapy, and learning how to stop dismissing your own feelings.

In this episode, I continue my experience growing up lower middle class. I talk about life after high school, going to community college, feeling behind compared to others, figuring things out alone, and why asking for help felt hard.

In this episode, I talk about what it felt like growing up lower middle class in an immigrant household and how that shaped my sense of belonging.

We had what we needed, but there was no extra and no real guidance on how to navigate school, college, or life in a system my parents didn’t grow up in.

I share personal moments from growing up, feeling behind, and not knowing how to ask for help, and how that experience stays with you. If you’ve ever felt out of place or like you were figuring things out on your own, this one will resonate.

In this episode, I talk about the deeper role music has played in my life, how it shaped my identity, helped me process emotions, and became a source of belonging. From childhood memories in India to growing up in a new country, I reflect on how music supports emotional regulation, self-expression, and connection. If you’ve ever felt understood by a song or found comfort in a playlist, this conversation is for you.

This episode is about the pause before we start, the moment where perfectionism, fear of judgment, and self-doubt quietly turn into procrastination. I share how this pattern showed up in my own life and how I learned that confidence isn’t something you find first, it’s something you build by starting.

For a long time, I found myself in the role of the friend who always showed up. The listener, the caretaker, the one who remembered birthdays, milestones, and hard moments. But somewhere along the way, I realized I hadn’t spent much time being my own friend.

In this episode, I explore how a deep need for belonging can shape the roles we take on in friendships. I reflect on loyalty, over-giving, unspoken resentment, and the quiet shifts that happen when you start paying attention to your own needs. I also talk about how identity, culture, and early conditioning influence the way we connect with others.

This conversation isn’t about cutting people off or blaming the past. It’s about learning who you are, creating more intentional relationships, and understanding that meaningful connection starts with knowing yourself first.

An episode about belonging, early conditioning, and beginning to name your own rhythm.

In this episode, I reflect on what it means to take up space when confidence has been shaped by culture, expectations, and years of adapting to others. Growing up between different value systems taught me how to be aware, respectful, and accommodating , but it also made confidence feel conditional rather than natural.

This conversation explores how confidence develops over time, not through performance or volume, but through self-trust and understanding the layers that shaped us. It’s an opportunity to look at how culture, upbringing, and lived experience influence the way we show up and how taking up space can become a quiet, intentional choice rather than something we feel we have to earn.

Growing up between cultures shapes you in ways you don’t always notice until much later.

In this episode, I reflect on what it means to be raised in two worlds and how that experience quietly influences identity, belonging, confidence, and voice.

From early childhood memories to adulthood and motherhood, I explore how cultural expectations, adaptation, and unspoken rules shape the way we show up in friendships, work, and leadership. This isn’t about choosing one identity over another, but understanding how multiple influences can exist within us at the same time.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt caught between worlds, learned to adapt before learning how to belong, or is beginning to reflect on how their upbringing still shapes the way they move through life.

A reflective episode about belonging, early conditioning, and beginning to name your own rhythm.

In My Rhythm is a podcast about belonging, identity, and the experiences that shape how we move through the world.

Hosted by Shelly, the show explores how growing up influenced by different cultures, expectations, and environments impacts the way we form relationships, use our voice, lead, and navigate both personal and professional spaces. Through storytelling and reflection, the podcast looks at the quiet patterns many of us carry: adapting to fit in, taking on roles for others, holding back parts of ourselves, and slowly learning what it means to show up with intention.

Some episodes draw from personal experiences. Others expand into broader conversations around culture, leadership, communication, and self-trust. Together, they offer space to pause, reflect, and consider how our past continues to inform the way we live, connect, and make decisions today.

In My Rhythm is for anyone interested in understanding themselves more clearly and moving forward in a way that feels grounded, honest, and aligned.