Confused About My Future Marriage and Business. Need Advice.

Hi, I am 25F, going to be 26 next month 😭 (I hate it). My parents expect me to be married in the next 1–2 years. I am okay with it. I want to get married, and most of my friends are already married—one even has a kid. I don’t want to date anyone now because my parents want me to marry within our religion and caste, so I have completely outsourced that work to them.

But my issue is that I am currently working as a software engineer in the smallest state in India (I won’t mention which one), which is also where I was born and brought up. All this time, I wanted to build my career in IT since I did engineering. But now, I have come up with a great business idea, and I would need my dad’s help with it—for investment (which isn’t an issue for him) and also for management, since we have a family business in manufacturing and processing, and he has good experience in it. The business I want to start is also mostly in manufacturing but with a completely different product from my family business. I have done a lot of research, and I feel I can make it work well.

But my mom said that I need to give the business some time, and if I plan to wait until it is stable before getting married, I shouldn’t expect good proposals—which I already know. The issue is that if I go ahead with my business idea, I will have to stay near my family because of the setup and everything. My family is open to getting me married in other states as well, like Karnataka, since we have relatives there. So, my mom suggested that I continue with my current job and start my business after I get married, as I could set up the business there.

Before anyone judges, my father will only fund my business—I don’t expect my husband to do it. But then, how will my dad help me if I get married far away? I don’t think I’ll be able to manage everything alone. Considering my future family and whether they will agree, I feel it will be difficult. So, I feel that if I start now and establish the business, nobody will say anything later, right?

Or maybe I should just continue my job in IT, get pregnant, leave my job, and take care of the kids forever😭. I am just so tired and confused thinking. I can’t think anymore. I just really want to do it, and I know I can make it successful and earn a good profit. But I just really wish I were a boy right now.