How Kumar Transformed His IIM Journey From Intimidating to Excelling

Ambivert by nature, a sketch artist by passion, and MBA student by career – this is the story of uncertainty and finding a ray of hope after working hard on oneself! With a defining three years of work experience, Kumar began his MBA journey at the esteemed Indian Institute of Management. 

“From the initial days itself, I was surrounded by people smarter than me. With the hectic IIM schedule and social pressure like this, I started developing anxiety.”

When Kumar’s MBA program started, he did not feel much affected by the schedule and other things. But as the days progressed, he thought to himself, “Is this the right place for me?” – After many sleepless and unproductive days, Kumar gradually developed anxiety. He was not able to cope up with the academic pressure and started isolating himself.

With a confused state of mind, Kumar did not know how to approach and tackle such a situation. He even bore many anxiety attacks and did not tell anyone about it.

Once a happy-go-lucky Kumar was now facing a lot of challenges and he did not see any positivity in his life. While the pressure was persisting, Kumar encountered one more challenge – a summer internship. 

“By the end of the first year, all the IIM students have to undergo summer internship. The process of the internship is not an easy one. We go through rigorous training and give multiple interviews. If you do not perform well, then nobody can save you!”

Kumar’s anxiety was at its peak when the internship period was going on. He would not eat or sleep well, and had nothing but negativity and overthinking in mind. Kumar was getting restless, thinking of the worst of what would happen if he didn’t get through the internship process? Kumar stopped chatting and mingling with his clique, and became an introvert, as the days went by.

The behavioural changes in Kumar were noticeable and he found himself stuck in a block, as he was scared of what would happen next. To cope up with the situation, Kumar started practising meditation and yoga but it did not help him much.

Seeing Kumar in distress, one of his friends nudged him to seek professional counseling. But, at that time, Kumar was hesitant as he had a lot of misconceptions about counseling and therapy.

“I have seen counseling sessions in movies and shows. I thought it’s just a facade and doesn’t really help, until one day I decided to help myself. I reached out to YourDOST through IIM resources and thanks to the confidentiality factor, I was intrigued to start the sessions.”

Kumar got connected with YourDOST Expert Preethi Krishnan and started sharing his thoughts, hoping to find a ray of hope!

Upon connecting with Preethi, Kumar slowly started discussing his issues, and he was surprised to see the suggestions provided by Preethi. “The solutions were very different from what I was thinking, and it helped me too!” – These are the words from Kumar, who was finally acknowledging and addressing the problems.

As a part of counseling technique, Preethi asked Kumar to monitor his emotions and jot them down on a piece of paper and analyse the pattern. Initially, Kumar appreciated the technique and continued to do it for over a week, but once he started observing that he had been dependent on this, he stopped it and decided to try another method. 

Kumar started following a timetable and tried hard to stick to it. Kumar’s timetable was not an ordinary one. He actually made a timetable to get distracted from negative thoughts and make room for socialisation!

“I started hanging out with my friends again, post all the classes. I allocated time to just focus on studying, and nothing else. This helped me greatly. Even my friends were applauding me for being as cheery and content as I was before.”

The new perspective helped Kumar be calmer and not have anxiety, as frequently as before. After a few months, Kumar even got placed at a high-end organisation of his choice and is now very happy to have come forward and sought help. He even rated himself a 4 out of 5, in terms of improvement through counseling, and we couldn’t be more proud of him!

As his closing thoughts, Kumar describes his counseling journey as ‘Peaceful’ and we at YourDOST, believe in him and wish him all the luck for his future endeavours!

Kumar’s Warrior Tips:
1. Every one can cope up with their problems, but never push yourself so hard that the problem dominates you. It’s okay to seek help and get better.

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.