The idea of returning to India after building a life abroad is usually framed as a compromise, a step back, or at best, a trade-off. But for many NRIs, the real shift happens long before the boxes are unpacked. For Zeel Shah, returning to India after spending 10 years in Canada rewired her life in ways she didn’t realise.
For anyone standing at a crossroads, torn between comfort and growth, Shah has a simple message, “You are allowed to choose what feels right for you now. There is no perfect timeline. There is only your truth.”
Coming back to India after a decade abroad
Shah, who describes herself as a mom blogger on Instagram, recently shared her thoughts on returning to India from Canada. She explained that coming back was never really about changing addresses, schools, or daily routines. Instead, it was about an internal shift that slowly changed how she approached everyday life. “I thought moving back to India would be about logistics. Addresses. Schools. Routines. I didn’t realise it would quietly rewire how I live,” she wrote.
Adjusting to life in India brought unexpected lessons. Shah said her days no longer felt rushed in the same way they once did. Life here, she added, comes with noise, interruptions, conversations, and frequent chai breaks. “Life isn’t optimised, but it’s felt,” she shared.
Living this way also pushed her to question ideas she had long held about success and self-worth. Over time, she realised how deeply she had tied her value to being productive. “I had to unlearn measuring my worth by productivity,” she admitted.
Shah shared that she is often asked how she decided to make such a big change and how she came to accept it. In response, she wrote that her perspective has shifted over time. Instead of asking herself, “What am I losing?”, she has begun asking, “What am I gaining?” She described this phase as a time to grow alongside her family, and said raising her child within a strong support system has opened up a new kind of personal and emotional growth for her.
“Some days I miss the old life. Some days I’m grateful I chose differently. Most days, I’m learning to trust myself again,” she captioned her post.
Letting go of control, finding support
Being closer to family and community also meant learning to let go of control. Shah spoke about the trade-offs that come with living in India. She said she had to accept that privacy becomes smaller, but support grows much bigger. Some days, she misses structure. On other days, she longs for silence. Yet, one feeling tops everything else — she no longer feels like she is doing life alone.
Looking back, Shah does not say the move made life easier. Instead, she says it made life richer in ways she did not expect. “Moving back didn’t make life easier. It made it fuller, warmer, more human. And maybe that’s the habit I’m most grateful for,” she wrote.
Her video gained attention online, with many people sharing their own experiences in the comments. One user wrote that this is the beauty of living in your own country, you are always taken care of. Another said they felt the same way after returning to India.
(The content in this article is based on a viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.)