TW: Mention of Suicide
This is the story of twenty-six-year-old Prateek whose spirit is as high as his ambitions! Born and brought up in Uttarpradesh, Prateek is the youngest child of his house. With a loving and caring family, Prateek ventured into many hobbies such as cooking, reading novels, writing poetry, and playing outdoor games.
With hopes in his eyes and a heart full of courage, Prateek moved to Delhi with his family members. Contrary to what he thought, shifting to Delhi was quite a culture shock for him.
“I was an average student at school but the transition from UP to Delhi made a huge impact on me.”
Like many of us, Prateek’s transition was not so smooth, he found himself struggling with getting adjusted to the new culture. He’d always pay more attention to extra-curricular activities, and try to improve his command of the English language. “It was very difficult to survive the culture shock”, says Prateek. After a couple of years, he enrolled himself in college, where he studied Bachelors in Pharmacy.
“I was still feeling shy and would compare myself with a lot of people, but this time, my classmates were supportive so I slowly got over it. I did not give up.”
Prateek started giving his 100% to everything he got his hands on and even started learning new things to make himself equipped with every aspect of life. After his graduation, he started working at a firm for a year, but due to expectations mismatch, he quit and decided to pursue a Masters’ degree. But before that, Prateek decided to take a break, to focus more on himself and to understand his passion a little better.
“The one year gap was rather unpleasant for me. I wanted to change my mental perception and I found myself not focusing on tasks well. Lack of career guidance in my earlier years made me feel inferior to others.”
After a year of self-introspection, Prateek started pursuing his Masters’ degree with a fresh mindset. But the impact that one year left on him, was not fading away.
“In that year, I let go of all my previous connections and so, when I started Masters’, I was under a lot of pressure. Online classes were a big letdown and made me feel I’m not doing enough justice to it.”
Anxiety and fear of interacting with others made Prateek confused. He complained of crying out loud due to anxiety, locking himself up in a room, which eventually led him to think about committing suicide. Prateek’s family members were observing the changes in him and when the condition did not improve, they asked him, “How could this happen to you? It’s not possible!” With such thoughts, Prateek’s tendency of self-criticism was also increasing.
With the sheer will to get better, Prateek went up to one of his faculty members and discussed his problems with them. Simultaneously, Prateek’s family members advised him to seek counseling from a professional. Prateek was happy to have such supportive parents and through his institute resources, he got in touch with YourDOST Expert Ms Nikita Agarwal.
“I was glad to have Nikita as my counselor. She first listened to everything that I had to say calmly and then only gave me suggestions. Her motivation helped me so much.”
Nikita suggested many techniques to Prateek, but the technique which helped Prateek majorly was calming his anger down. With negativity all around him, Prateek often complained to lash out at others unwillingly. The anger management technique suggested by Nikita was the ‘Counting to 10 technique’.
Counting to 10 is an effective way of disarming anger if we take a slow deep breath between each number, also while focusing on each tensed muscle and allowing the body to release the anger.
Due to constantly following such techniques and seeking counseling, Prateek was able to control his anger very well and reinstated the lost confidence in him. He even mentioned that he felt very normal after 25-30 days from the first session.
“I now know that nobody is perfect and that everybody has their own journey. My emotions are in control now. I even started exercising and working out to be even better.”
On a scale of 1 to 5, Prateek gave himself 4 stars, stating “My healing is still in progress”, and we at YourDOST, thank him for his honesty!
Prateek’s Warrior Tips:
1. If you’re not able to discuss your issues, then you must think that it’s just a normal cold disease and that you will go to the doctor and sort it out. There is nothing wrong with reaching out to get better.
2. Don’t ignore the signs. The more you ignore, the more problematic your issues will get, and vice versa.
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.
