Born and brought up in Pune, this is the story of 29-year-old Vinita, who went above and beyond to take care of herself and her team’s mental health.
Vinita’s life has been great, in her own words and she absolutely loves her job as an Operations Team Lead at WittyPen. The pride she gets in her job is one of the major motivators for her, which pushes her to do better things with each passing day. Along with these, Vinita also enjoys reading, gear bike riding, and cooking every once in a while, to freshen her up!
“I’ve been a listener for everyone, so when I got to know about YourDOST as WittyPen’s emotional wellness coach, I thought, why not make a good use of it!?”
For Vinita, counseling came as an emotional wellness program from YourDOST. She was not dealing with any pertaining issue at that point, but she decided to take therapy sessions nevertheless for the betterment of her mental health. Though Vinita did not have anger issues as such, she was still hoping to control her outbursts which occurred every now and then.
“I attend a few workshops from YourDOST, which were very self-driven, At the end of those sessions, I began self-introspecting.”
Vinita often found herself surrounded by negativity from her family members. She points out how they weren’t always supportive of her decisions, how they’d constantly ask her to eat less, and often pinpoint things that shouldn’t matter. All in all, the lack of support from her family made Vinita feel a tornado of anger within her.
Vinita also couldn’t talk about this with anyone, as did not have a smooth relationship with those around her. The gap between her and her brother also made her not discuss these with him.
Due to all the anger, Vinita also found her heart rate to go up abnormally and that’s when she realized she might be anxious too. This was the incident that pushed Vinita to take further counseling sessions with a dedicated expert from YourDOST, and that’s how she got connected with Ms. Sailee Bhadane from YourDOST.
“I also got a positive push from Joses, the Customer Success Manager for WittyPen to take out time from my busy schedule and simply connect with an expert. ”
Vinita was also going through several other issues, such as previous relationships, family forced to get married, and so on. Vinita feels like Sailee came to her at the right time, to help her reduce her anger and also get over the elements of her past relationship.
Sailee heard Vinita out so patiently. Sailee only shared her own perspective once Vinita was done talking. This helped Vinita articulate her thoughts and communicate better. Vinita got the “You’re not alone” feeling right after the first session with Sailee.
Sailee helped Vinita handle her anger and openly discuss the challenges she was facing. Vinita finally began to learn that it’s okay to say no, and it’s also okay to distance yourself from a person who might be draining you out.
“The sessions helped me add a touch of humor to my problems, it helped me set boundaries too. I realised anger is okay but the way you channel it, is more important.”
With this, once Vinita understood that anger is a normal emotion, she then began to work on herself getting better because there wasn’t any pressure and her feelings were valid. Vinita recalls YourDOST’s sessions on anger management and began to incorporate them into her daily life.
In a country like India where women are asked not to get angry or lose their calm, Vinita met a group of women and they discussed all things anger, in one of the sessions. Such sessions and Sailee’s constant support touched Vinita’s heart, that someone finally understands her.
“Sailee brought in the “you can” factor such as you can set boundaries, you can be less controlling about certain things as I like to control my environment.”
After a few sessions, Vinita understood that anger is normal and also learned a few techniques to identify the triggers and ways to control them. She now communicates well with her mother where she puts her point of view and also tells her mother how certain words have been hurting her. Such open communication worked wonders and she feels they are very necessary to form a good bond with anyone. Vinita also doesn’t pester herself for being angry anymore.
For Vinita, the sessions with Sailee were delightful! Like many of us, Vinita initially was afraid thinking that she might not be able to connect with the expert, but Sailee’s vibes made her feel comfortable and at ease.
“Sailee made me gather courage and feel normal. She’s amazing and very connecting as an individual. It never felt professional, instead felt like I’m talking to a person I know.”
After seeking help for herself, Vinita now feels grateful for platforms and services like YourDOST. She feels with the help of YourDOST, she and her team are in the right mind to face any challenges thrown at them. Seeing her team also participate in various webinars and workshops of YourDOST made Vinita feel proud of how everyone now is taking care of their mental health and advocating the same.
Sailee’s friendly attitude was the best part about counseling for Vinita and she rated her improvement through therapy a 3 on 5.
Vinita describes her overall improvement with the simple word ‘amazing’, and surely, we at YourDOST feel the exact same for Vinita and her undying spirit of becoming a better version of herself with each day!
Vinita’s Warrior Tips:
1. Be your own primary focus. If want to focus on yourself first, then you’ve to be mentally stable and for that, you have to talk to someone to get you.
2. It’s okay to get help as simple as taking care of a cold/cough, so visit the right counselor for you and get better.
3. Go beyond reading self-improvement quotes and act on them.
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.