How Vasavi Broke Free From a Toxic Relationship

A person with multiple interests, this is the story of 21-year-old Vasavi. A painter, dancer, an avid baker, traveller and a math genius! At such a young age, Vasavi has unravelled many shades of her multi-facet personality.

A designer by passion and profession, Vasavi takes a deep interest in illustration, animation and so on. She’s currently pursuing Bachelor’s in Communication Design from Anant National University. Vasavi believes she’s an extremely expressive person and illustrating and dancing help her leverage that.

“2020 was a hard time for me. I got out of a toxic relationship of four years, and it began to take a toll on my mental health.”

For four long years, not everything was sunshine and rainbows for Vasavi. She felt like she lost her identity and true self somewhere down the road. Taking basic decisions became a huge task for her.

With each passing day, Vasavi became more and more introverted. She started to isolate herself to get away from the toxic nature of the relationship.

“I lost many friends during that period of my life. I began to have panic attacks every now and then. My symptoms were visible physically too.”

As human’s emotions reflect boldly on their physical behaviour, Vasavi did not leave them behind. She started getting extreme chest pains and shortness of breath. The toxic surroundings made her have frequent headaches too.

Even after the breakup, Vasavi couldn’t get away from the toxicity. She wanted to try therapy and gain some guidance from an expert but never had a chance to, until she got introduced to YourDOST through her institute resources.

“I got in touch with Meenakshi, my counselor from YourDOST via video calls. She was very inviting. She always made sure to ask how am I doing, before initiating any session.”

Meenakshi gave hope to break free from the ghost of a toxic relationship with Vasavi. She listened to Vasavi’s concerns and provided her with appropriate guidance. Vasavi was aware of the fact that counseling is not a one time process, but a gradual one. So, she took a leap of faith and gave it all in!

Meenakshi helped Vasavi with various coping mechanisms to deal with anxiety. She even suggested she follow the 54321 grounding technique to release negative thoughts, feel calm, and be present in the moment. Vasavi was astonished to witness how she regained lost confidence after a toxic relationship.

“I got back together with many of my friends, they were all very supportive for therapy and I even encouraged them to give it a try.”

Vasavi started to identify certain behavioural patterns of her and realised how she can break free from those. Therapy was an eye-opening experience for Vasavi, she learned new things and unlearned a few. 

“I feel like I had a trait of getting attracted to toxic people, now I feel like I am far away from that. I stopped being dependent emotionally on others.”

Vasavi learnt how to draw boundaries and prioritise her mental health above anything else. She summarises her therapy experience with the word ‘beautiful’, and indeed, we can see how far she’s come! Vasavi rates her overall therapy experience a solid 4 on 5.

Vasavi has been volunteering with YourDOST on her college campus, and keeps spreading mental health awareness with everyone she encounters!

Vasavi’s Warrior Tips:
1. Therapy is not something that people should be ashamed of. It is not true that you’re a ‘mad’ or a ‘crazy’ person if you take therapy. Sometimes, people need help and it is okay to reach out.
2. Please reach out and don’t let yourself suffer because it is not fair to your body.
3. I know it’s hard to leave toxic relationships. But it is better to be out of it rather than suffer in silence. Be selfish for your mental health.

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.