Episode 24: Redefining her role in her Indian culture through boundaries, healing and sobriety with Prakruti
Alcohol abuse and culture, sweeping things under the rug and healing from trauma experienced as a teenager are some of the key things discussed on this week’s Stack’n’Days podcast by host Ray and guest Prakruti. Prakruti shares her story from her upbringing in the US with her Indian parents to being a mother teaching her children about boundaries and emotional intelligence. She also shares the tools and tips she has used in her pursuit of sobriety.
Growing up and pursuit of happiness
Prakruti discusses growing up in an Indian community where there was a lot of focus on getting achievement and into prestigious universities.
She prioritized her own happiness, which was seen as strange by both the Indian community and her school peers.
Despite caring about others' opinions, Prakruti always tried to stay true to herself.
Prakruti emphasizes that the pursuit of happiness was a long-term journey filled with challenges, but she is now in a good place.
She says sobriety helped her to finally get there.
Feeling like an outsider
Prakruti discusses how she felt like “the brown sheep” in her family.
With her family she didn’t feel Indian enough and in the outside world in the US she didn’t feel American enough.
She started using substances, like alcohol, in her teenage years to try to fit in and have shared experiences.
However, she has since realized that real authentic connections are formed without substances.
Lack of representation and stigma in addiction recovery space
Prakruti discusses attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings.
She shares her experience of finding support and belonging in AA despite initially questioning her identity as an alcoholic.
She highlights the challenge of being a person of color in recovery and emphasizes the significance of acknowledging and embracing her identity.
Prakruti, however, expresses frustration at the lack of diversity, particularly the absence of brown people.
She mentions how she created a medallion with a brown Wonder Woman character on it, as all the options were of white characters.
Prakruti also talks about the stigma and shame associated with addiction, especially for women, and how it can prevent individuals from seeking help.
Overcoming addiction
Prakruti abuses multiple substances including alcohol and cocaine.
She achieved success in her life while she was using substances so it took some time for her to realise it was a problem.
She eventually realized that her addiction was harming her children and decided to pursue sobriety.
Feeling all of the feelings
Prakruti says that in her culture mental health issues aren’t often well received.
When she was depressed people kept telling her how blessed she is and that she should be grateful.
Prakruti emphasizes that it is possible to experience both gratitude and sadness simultaneously.
Experiencing major events sober
Prakruti went through a divorce while sober.
This was challenging but she managed to dig deep and get through it.
Trauma, substance use and cultural expectations
Prakruti discusses how a traumatic incident impacted her self-perception and led to substance use as a coping mechanism.
She mentions that her experience is a common one and expresses empathy for others who may have similar experiences.
Prakruti talks about the cultural perspective on alcoholism and substance use in Indian culture and the pressure she felt as a young person to conform to expectations.
She shares her determination to break these cycles for her own daughters and emphasizes the difference between the group-oriented worldview in Indian culture and the individualistic perspective in American culture.
Prakruti’s details:
Instagram: @brownwonderwoman2023
Contact the show:
Website: stackndays.com
Email: rdg@stackndays.com
Instagram and TikTok: @stackndays