“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Chirpy and bold Akancha Sinha is the embodiment of the above-mentioned quote. Born and brought up in Patna, Akancha is a big K-pop fan and loves to write fiction stories. Despite many students in India, Akancha started coding from class 10th and absolutely enjoyed every bit of it! Akancha has been always been conscious about her self-image; in front of others and in front of her parents too. When she started pursuing her B.Tech. degree from Lovely Professional University (LPU), she felt like everything has fallen into place until she started facing issues with her academic and personal life in the third year.
“I was the one who put myself in trouble. After the pandemic, I started staying at my home and soon realised that the changing facet of education was taking a toll on me.”
During the pandemic, we all were struggling with the virtual contact with our professors or our colleagues, and Akancha felt the same. She started having the feeling of not being good enough, as her placements approached. “I always used to feel that I can do everything by myself”, said Akancha with sadness in her tone. Little did she know, the feeling of not being enough made a huge impact on her mental health.
“I used to study 14 hours a day, and then couldn’t sleep well due to the stress. Nobody knew what I was going through.”
Akancha often cried herself to sleep, and the dark clouds of anxiety and suicidal thoughts started surrounding her. To be more physically healthy, she adapted a low-carb diet in her daily routine, but that too made an adverse impact on her morale. The state of constant anxiety in Akancha’s mind turned into fear and she began to isolate herself.
“Even the smallest thing kept me up at night.”
Akancha had become a worrier. For someone who always had her head held high, Akancha started getting shy and isolated from others. As she pondered each issue she faced, she became more and more cooped up in her shell. Akancha spent many weeks staying alone and not sharing her emotions, but there came a moment where she knew she needed help.
YourDOST is LPU’s emotional wellness partner, and through its resources, she decided to reach out to a counselor to guide her in the right direction.
“I got connected with Yukti, a YourDOST counselor. I’m always open to experiment with new things so I had no preconceptions regarding it and straight away started my sessions.”
Contrary to many things Akancha had heard previously, Yukti comforted her and said, “Don’t worry. I will not put a label on you.” – Akancha rejoiced as she heard this! Yukti suggested that Akancha should practice breathing exercises, to help her calm down when the anxiety peeks in. Akancha perfected that and saw the results very soon. Additionally, Yukti also advised Akancha to maintain a thought-diary.
Jotting down thoughts and emotions in a thought diary helps individuals form connections between their feelings, thoughts, behaviours, and physical symptoms.
After maintaining the though-diary, Akancha realised that she was facing issues with many distorted thoughts, which made her a worrier eventually. Akancha actively started identifying her triggers and learned how she can control them. As a result, Akancha pulled herself out from the state of constant distress. She finally started inculcating positive thoughts.
“Thanks to Yukti, my overthinking tendencies reduced. For someone like me who couldn’t even breathe properly at a given point in time, having Yukti by my side was a blessing.”
Akancha was glad that she took this step to be a better version of herself and summarised her entire counseling experience with the word ‘amazing’! Sure enough, the amazing woman that Akancha is, we are so proud of her for being extremely vulnerable yet bold about her issues. She rated herself 3.5 out of 5, in terms of feeling better and urges everyone to speak up, rather than sink in!
Akancha’s Warrior Tips:
1. A constant state of unhappiness is not normal, it will lead to stress and anxiety. So, one must stand up for themself and act accordingly.
2. Sadness is subjective, but so is happiness. One should know how to acknowledge these feelings.
Are you someone who has gone through a difficult phase and emerged stronger and better, with some professional help? Share your story with us to encourage thousands of others who might be struggling. Click here to submit your story.