How do I balance my own dreams and identity with becoming a parent?

This is the real question nobody talks about enough. Rabia's life shows us something important: she didn't abandon her spiritual calling to serve others—her calling was *to* serve and love. But she chose it. Parenthood will ask you to reorganize your life, your time, your priorities. It doesn't mean erasing your dreams; it means integrating them differently. Some dreams pause. Some evolve. Some become deeper because a child witnesses them. The honest part: you will grieve what you let go of. You might resent it sometimes. That's human and okay. What matters is whether you're choosing parenthood alongside your life, not instead of it. Talk with parents who've kept some version of their creative life, their work, their spiritual practice alive—not because they're superhuman, but because they protected those parts as essential to being good parents. A child doesn't need a parent who sacrificed everything; they need a parent who's still connected to their own purpose. That modeling teaches them something crucial about how to live. Before you decide, ask: What would I need to keep showing up as myself? And then ask your potential co-parent: Can we build a life where both our dreams still matter?