Acknowledging Privilege

I have always hated that word.

Not because the idea behind it is wrong, but because of what it felt like every time it was pointed at me. Like someone was quietly taking something away. Like every hard thing I had done, every uncomfortable decision, every late night - suddenly had an asterisk next to it. “Yeah, but you had help.” And I would get defensive. Every. Single. Time.

I think a part of me confused acknowledging privilege with discrediting effort. As if the two couldn't coexist. As if saying "I had some tailwind" automatically meant "the work didn't matter." That's the part I've been slowly unlearning.

Privilege is a wide word. It can be a network you inherited, money you didn't earn, a talent you were born with, or just the fact that your circumstances allowed you to make a choice that most people can't. It isn't always obvious. Sometimes it's invisible precisely because you've always had it.

Mine became obvious to me recently - when I decided to leave my job to take a shot at something entrepreneurial.

The moment I made that call, I realized something: no one's life changed because of it. No one was eating less. No one was stressed. No EMIs were in danger. No one was depending on my salary to get through the month. It was just me, making a decision about my own life, with no real damage if it didn't work out for a while.

That is privilege. Staring right at me.

And once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. The freedom to be bad at something for a period of time, to figure it out, to iterate - that is not available to everyone. A lot of people are one bad month away from a crisis. I'm not. That gap is massive, and for a long time I just didn't sit with it long enough to appreciate it.

I want to use this time, this freedom, this unusual lack of pressure to build something that creates genuine stability - for me, and eventually for the people I care about. To never be in a position where I can't help someone I want to help. That feels like the most honest way I can honor what I've been given.

Acknowledge it. Don't let it make you feel small. And then use it like you mean it.