Meet Madhur – A 25-year-old ambitious young lad who loves hiking, roaming around with friends and meeting new people. Hailing from Uttarpradesh, Madhur is currently pursuing PGD in Forest Management from the prestigious IIFM (Indian Institute of Forest Management).
IIFM is partnered with YourDOST, as their emotional wellness coach, where they help the students overcome any mental health-related issues. One fine day, Madhur attended a session by YourDOST where they shared how counseling can help them. At this point, only one thing was running in Madhur’s mind, “How can I talk to a stranger without even knowing them or their intentions?”, of course, this is the thing most of us think when it comes to opening up to a stranger, right?
Reema, an expert from YourDOST called Madhur up for a regular check-in. Despite Madhur’s hesitation towards counseling, he was glad to have someone call him and that made him feel more confident about it.
“I just wanted to try counseling, but I couldn’t speak to Reema. I was very hesitant. But, Reema was very patient with me and asked me if I would like to schedule another session after a week, once I feel like opening up to her.”
With a nurturing counselor by his side, Madhur thought for a week and decided to give counseling another chance. Madhur likes to call himself someone who is always in a good mood and enjoys life as it is! But, his own notion about himself changed after he started noticing significant changes in himself post Covid-19 lockdown and Madhur thought to himself, how about he gives counseling a chance! As Reema had already reached out to him, what better time to seek help than now!
During the lockdown, Madhur witnessed a series of drastic changes in himself where he noticed that everything around him was not being favourable to him.
“I thought I could tackle challenges but once my entire family got Covid, including myself I realised I might not be able to handle everything.”
Madhur was not anticipating the events that led up to a disturbed sleep schedule, lack of focus, academic stress, and the frustration of not being able to tackle the roadblocks. He complained about being sad constantly, getting frustrated and not being able to channel the anger in a healthy form. On top of the ongoing issues, Madhur was also facing one more challenge.
Despite sharing these issues with some of his friends, Madhur did not receive the support he was hoping for. Instead, he got humiliated and made fun of by his friends. “You never know when someone will use your insecurities against you, tease and leave you all alone”, says Madhur.
Madhur was in a very vulnerable situation, he was constantly upset with the sickness and lack of empathy around him, and to overcome that he contacted Reema and expressed his desire to begin the counseling sessions.
“Reema was an amazing listener. From the first session itself, she changed my perspective towards life. I could see my anger vanishing.”
Madhur gained a perspective he had never seen before, through counseling. He was able to understand how he can change things, and not get irritated so often. With help of Reema, Madhur observed that his overthinking and anxiety had reduced and he was once again, able to make rational decisions.
“I really thought I could have started counseling sooner. I wish I had a friend like Reema by my side.”
The accumulation and feeling of negativity were finally reduced for Madhur and following this, he was able to focus more on his academics and did not bother about what other people had to say about him. Madhur calls his counseling journey a magnificent experience and rates himself somewhere between 3.8 and 4.8 out of 5, in terms of feeling better.
After all, sometimes all you need is an ear to listen to, guidance to follow, and a pillar to constantly push you to be the best version of yourself.
Madhur’s Warrior Tips:
1. Never feel hesitant to reach out. Get in touch with YourDOST or even a counselor/therapist of your choice and go for it! You will be amazed to see the unique perspective you will get.
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