“Negativity is an addiction to the bleak shadow that lingers around every human form – you can transfigure negativity by turning it toward the light of your soul.” – John O’Donohue
Shreya is a 21-year-old person with a keen interest in home-aesthetic videos. In her free time, Shreya scrolls through aesthetic art videos. She also is an Electrical Engineering graduate from the academics front. Shreya hails from the city of Bathinda, Punjab and recently moved to Gurgaon for her new job. Shreya has her current life quite occupied by her profession, but it was not the same a few years back.
“I used to feel left alone as I couldn’t make friends that easily. It had started to create a sense of negativity within me.”
By the first year of her college, Shreya had made a handful of friends. But they all belonged to different classes and had their groups of friends. This made Shreya feel left out. Shreya found it difficult to make new friends as she never let people enter her territory nor did she approach anyone on her own.
“People used to misread my behaviour thinking that I am a person with an attitude. This prevented them from talking to me and it made me feel very low,”.
Shreya ended up falling into a pit of negativity and this led her to even bunk her college classes. She used to prefer staying inside her hostel room, cutting everyone off.. Shreya ended up scoring poor marks in her first semester which took a huge toll on her mental health. But not giving up, Shreya worked hard to expect good results by the end of the second semester. Alas, as the odds were against her favour at that time, Shreya fell short of good grades again.
“I started feeling low and clueless. I was confused about what I was doing with my life. I started having a lack of confidence and felt lethargic most of the time.”
By the second year of her college, it became very hectic for Shreya to put up with the negativity. Shreya even recalls her incidents of looking for an opportunity each time she had to go to college and face the reality.
Things turned more grey with the onset of covid-19 when her uncle fell sick. Her negative mindset had touched the peak when she started having thoughts of uncertainty about her own family’s well being. Every time she would read the newspaper, Shreya would burst into tears.
“One day, I started having difficulty in breathing as I got a panic attack. Although it vanished after a few minutes, I realised that the negativity had started to take over me physically and I needed help.”
Lastly, the bubble had burst by her failure in one subject, which led to an outrage in her family support. Shreya never shared her issues with anyone fearing judgement. But as she attempted to share with her family, it only led to more issues.
As rightly said by Arnold Palmer “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you”, Shreya took a leap of faith. Not wasting any more energy on the negativity, she took the first opportunity to approach YourDOST who were associated with her college.
“I got in touch with Abrar Raza, a counselor from YourDOST to seek help. I started pouring out my emotions hoping for a positive change.”
Abrar started the counseling process by listening to what Shreya had to share for the first few sessions. Although Shreya was a bit nervous initially, she eventually got comfortable sharing her issues. Abrar mainly focussed on helping Shreya introspect the root of her negativity by diving into past traumas. For Shreya, it was an eye-opening experience as she later realised that all she needed to do was communicate her problems out and a little self-introspection.
“I feel pride in saying that I’m not a coward anymore. I look up to things instead of bailing on them. I feel grateful.”
Shreya started to connect with people and she took this opportunity to extend her regards to Abrar for listening to her. She had finally realised that she was not being judged and felt good about herself. Shreya describes her counseling experience to be a happy one and feels that the freedom to talk was the best part of it. Shreya rates her overall improvement through counseling with a 3 out of 5. We, at YourDOST, feel very happy for her and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
Shreya’s Warrior Tips:
1. It’s always good to seek help. When your emotions overpower you, you will not be able to enjoy the small-small things in life.
2. It’s better to speak out your emotions than to keep them within you. But if you have the fear of judgement, you can always seek help from a counselor.
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.