One incident taught how to draw physical boundaries with even the closest female friends and about consent ✨

Recently, while reading some old chats, I remembered an incident from my MBA internship this year.

I was interning with one of my closest college friends—someone who's literally my go-to person. One day, we were talking about different perspectives and the issues women face. Randomly, I asked her, "Is there anything you think I should change about myself?" At first, she smiled and said, "Everything is fine. You don't need to change anything." We laughed it off and started joking about our grumpy old managers.

A few days later, while talking about work again (there were three of us interning together), I asked her the same question because I genuinely wanted honest feedback. This time, she said, "Please don't randomly put your hand on a woman's shoulder or hug her without her consent."

Honestly, I was taken aback. I never thought much about it because I used to do the same with both my male and female friends and never saw any difference.

But what she said really hit me. She also clarified, "Don't take it otherwise. I'm your friend, but I'm saying this in general. Please don't do it with random people." I think she had also seen me hug another girl who also was interning with us who also had grow close to me during the internship period,maybe that made her bring it up.

That conversation gave me a very important realization: consent matters, even in small gestures that we may think are harmless. Just because I don't have any bad intention doesn't mean the other person will automatically be comfortable.

Since then, I've made it a point that whenever I want to hug someone or even put my arm around someone while taking a photo, I ask first. A simple "Can I?" or "Is this okay?" takes just a second, but it shows respect for the other person's comfort and boundaries.

Looking back, I'm genuinely grateful that she told me this. Kabhi kabhi close friends hi woh feedback dete hain jo initially thoda uncomfortable lagta hai, but wahi feedback humein better insaan banata hai. That conversation changed my perspective , ✨❤️