She Had Two Choices. She Chose Herself.
I was watching Single Salma
And the reflection was inspired by the series.
While watching Single Salma on Netflix, I didn’t expect much.
It felt like one of those quiet shows you casually start—
but slowly, it begins to sit with you.
Single Salma follows the life of Salma, a woman navigating love, companionship, social expectations, and her own inner conflicts. Like many women, she is surrounded by voices telling her what a “complete” life should look like—marriage, adjustment, compromise, fitting into a timeline that isn’t always hers.
Throughout the story, Salma is not portrayed as dramatic or rebellious.
She is thoughtful. She feels deeply.
She questions herself.
She tries to do the “right” thing.
And that’s what makes her relatable.
The show doesn’t rush her decisions. It lets us see her confusion, her hope, her longing, and her quiet fatigue of constantly weighing others’ expectations against her own inner truth.
By the end, Salma stands at a crossroads.
There are two choices before her.
Both seem reasonable.
Both seem acceptable to the world.
But only one feels honest to her soul.
And then comes that final line—simple, understated, yet powerful:
Salma had two choices.
And she chose herself.
No dramatic background music.
No declaration.
Just clarity.
That line stayed with me long after the screen went dark.
Because choosing yourself is rarely celebrated.
Especially for women.
We are taught—subtly and repeatedly—that choosing yourself is selfish.
That love means adjustment.
That stability means endurance.
That being “good” means being agreeable.
So when a woman pauses, looks at both options, and walks toward herself instead of approval, security, or familiarity—it feels almost revolutionary.
Choosing yourself doesn’t always look brave on the outside.
Sometimes it looks like walking away without certainty.
Sometimes it looks like disappointing people you care about.
Sometimes it looks like sitting alone with your truth while others move ahead with applause and validation.
Salma didn’t choose certainty.
She didn’t choose what would look good on paper.
She chose alignment.
And that’s the part we rarely talk about.
Choosing yourself is not about rejecting love.
It’s about refusing to abandon yourself in the name of it.
It’s about saying:
I will not shrink to be chosen.
I will not betray my needs to be accepted.
I will not stay where I slowly disappear.
Many women today are standing at this same crossroads.
One path offers familiarity, validation, social comfort.
The other offers honesty, self-respect, and a quieter kind of peace.
The second path doesn’t come with guarantees.
But it comes with something far more valuable—
self-trust.
When you choose yourself, life doesn’t instantly become easier.
But it becomes truer.
And truth has a way of building strength over time.
Salma’s choice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Because sometimes, the bravest thing a woman can do
is stop negotiating with her own soul.
If you are standing between two choices today,
and one of them feels like you’re slowly losing yourself—
pause.
Listen.
You already know.
Choosing yourself is not the end of love.
It is the beginning of a relationship you can finally come home to.
Here comes a small suggestion
If You Have Two Choices, How Do You Choose?
When you stand between two choices, confusion usually comes from one place:
your head and heart speaking at the same time, but not to each other.
The mind speaks in fear and logic: What if this goes wrong?
What will people think?
Is this safe? Is this practical?
The heart speaks in quiet truth: This feels light.
This feels honest.
This feels like me.
The problem is not that the mind talks.
The problem is when the mind overrules the heart instead of listening to it.
Alignment happens when your head learns to serve your heart, not silence it.
So how do you choose?
First, pause.
Not to analyse—but to feel.
Ask yourself:
Which choice expands me, even if it scares me?
Which choice asks me to shrink, adjust, or betray myself?
Which path would I choose if no one were watching?
Which decision would I respect myself for five years from now?
Then invite the head into the conversation—not as a judge, but as a guide.
Let the head ask: How can we make the heart’s choice safer?
What boundaries, pacing, or support do we need?
What practical steps can help this choice sustain itself?
This is alignment.
Alignment is not impulsive.
And it is not fearful.
It is when:
The heart sets the direction
And the mind builds the bridge
When you choose alignment, there is often no instant relief.
But there is a deep inner “yes.”
A calm knowing.
A sense of self-respect.
A feeling of coming home to yourself.
Bravo to the choice that honours both wisdom and truth.
Bravo to the moment your head finally says to your heart:
“I trust you. Let’s do this together.”
That is how you choose yourself.
If this reflection resonated with you, you may find deeper clarity in my book
The Nine Truths About Heart’s Intelligence.
It explores how the heart carries an intelligence of its own—and how learning to listen to that inner truth allows us to align our choices with who we truly are. Much like Salma, it is about recognising the quiet wisdom that already knows the way.
⭐: Nine Untold Truths About Heart's Intelligence: Unlocking The Wisdom Within
https://amzn.in/d/dNcwEHM
You may also connect with my book
Wings to Freedom,
which speaks about choosing authenticity over societal conditioning. It is a journey of unlearning, self-honouring, and reclaiming the courage to live truthfully—just as Salma did when she chose herself over expectation.
Wings to Freedom: Unchaining Yourself from People Pleasers and Toxic Patterns.
https://amzn.in/d/1oIDcow
Both books are gentle reminders that alignment is not rebellion.
It is remembrance.
Of who you are beneath the noise.
And sometimes, the bravest choice is simply to be real with yourself.
To tour better choices and higher alignment,
Roop Lakhani
www.rooplakhani.com
www.rooplakhani.co.in
