Niki Walia has been in showbiz for over two decades and continues to play strong and meaningful characters across mediums. The actress has dabbled in different kinds of roles from television to films and digital projects while also evolving personally. Niki recently shared her journey of self-discovery and the version of herself she is most grateful for today.

For Niki, growing older has also brought a better understanding of herself. She revealed that her journey of looking within became deeper around the age of 45, when she went through perimenopause and began examining different aspects of her life more closely.

Talking about the version of Niki Walia she is most grateful for today, the actress said, “I have been doing a lot of inner work for many, many years now. I think my journey of actually finding the real me and who I am began at around 45 when I hit perimenopause. I realised that there are a lot of unhealed versions of me that need taking care of, need addressing.”

She further shared that this realisation encouraged her to become more mindful of herself and her needs. Niki added, “So from that age onwards, I have started journaling, doing a lot of introspection, being extremely mindful towards myself first, because it all begins with you. So I’d say that it was the version of me post all those realisations.”

The actress also recalled how she gradually became more comfortable with herself around the age of 48 to 50. One of the biggest changes, according to Niki, was learning to stop carrying the weight of other people’s opinions and staying true to the promises she made to herself.

She explained, “So around the age of 48, 50 is when I started feeling a lot more comfortable in my skin. Started shedding the weight of people’s opinions. Genuinely started keeping my word to myself. Like I would always set goals for myself earlier, but never live up to them. I set goals and actually took those baby steps to achieve those goals.”

Niki also believes that being kind to oneself is an important part of personal growth. Over time, she learned not to be too hard on herself whenever things did not go as planned.

“I also learned very quickly to forgive myself if I wasn’t able to achieve anything I set out to do. So overall, I’d say that I’m very grateful for that version of me that learned to become kinder to myself,” Niki concluded.