Hailing from a town called Rohtak in Haryana, Akansha lives with her parents and a brother in Delhi. She has completed her schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya school and graduated in history honours from Delhi University.
She has a plethora of hobbies and interests that include reading novels, listening to music, exploring new places and enjoying a good time with her friends.
Last year an incident took place that changed her life completely.
“My friend and I met with a terrifying car accident last year, which left us getting hurt physically. The recovery period was the most stressful time in my life.”
Akansha and her friend were on a drive somewhere, when she admitted to her friend that one of her exes had reached out. This piece of information made him really upset and as a result, he started speeding and driving recklessly. Due to this, they met with a serious accident causing physical injuries to both.
Akansha was left with a broken nose and blood everywhere and they both were traumatised by the incident that had taken place. Both were immediately rushed to the hospital.
An event that turned her whole perspective towards her day-to-day life. As a result of the accident, she developed severe anxiety about vehicles and the general traffic on the road.
“I was traumatised to a point where every car I saw on the road felt like it would come and hit me or I would die.”
She started seeing a number of behavioural changes in herself post-recovery.
She recalls becoming rude to people and getting anxious about every little thing happening around her. Her anxiety shot up and she would frequently have panic attacks.
Breathing was getting difficult as her nose was left crooked. She also feared the cosmetic surgeries that had been scheduled for restoring her facial features.
She developed anger issues and started withdrawing from all kinds of social interactions.
“After a few months, there was another minor accident that took place and that increased my fear and anxiety so much that I locked myself up in my room for 2 whole months.”
She had been seeing a therapist just after the major accident had taken place and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was willing to work on herself and overcome her fears of driving vehicles.
She was prescribed anxiety pills to calm herself down. The medicines were effective and she soon stopped her medication. However, after encountering another minor accident, it was like her entire progress was reset.
She locked herself out from any kind of interaction with people and could not sleep at night. Nightmares were haunting her and keeping her awake on most nights.
That’s when she decided it was time to do something about it. She reached out to YourDOST.
“After close observation, I decided to reach out to YourDOST and get connected with a counselor – Priyanka Kumari. She is the most patient and composed person. I confide in her and she is my best friend.”
At first, like many others, Akansha was sceptical about the long process of recovery in counseling. She was desperate for immediate results and positive changes.
However that was not the case here, this time, Priyanka comforted Akansha and encouraged her to open up to her. She made Akansha understand and accept that therapy is a long process and one needs immense patience to discover things about oneself.
After a lot of convincing and comforting, Akansha came to terms with the fact that speaking with her counselor in every session made her more resilient.
She was recommended a number of techniques to cope with her issues.
These included: Writing or journaling about her thoughts and feelings; for sleeping better she was asked to remind herself of 10 things she is grateful for; Icing (holding ice cubes) whenever she felt anger and frustration, and finally some breathing exercises and meditation practices to calm her anxiety.
“My experience with YourDOST until now has been really great, my counselor has really facilitated me in making positive changes for myself. I am forever grateful to have her in my life.”
Akansha swore to make these techniques a part of her daily regimen, and as a result, she noticed several positive changes in herself.
She observed that her anger had reduced and was now in control. She was able to handle herself during panic attacks and become less dependent on her counselor.
One of the biggest milestones that she achieved was getting back to driving vehicles. Another highlight was that she was able to go out and interact with people and not feel the threat of getting hurt by the ongoing traffic around her.
She rated herself a whopping 4.5 out of 5 in terms of getting better and is determined to take better control of her life. This journey has been both exhausting and exhilarating for Akansha, but today she has overcome her fears and is confident to lead her life to a better future.
Akansha’s Warrior Tips:
1.”Counselors are trained professionals like doctors for your minds. One should speak to them regarding any issue they have.”
2.“Counselors can help you in situations your friends and family cannot.”
3.“Therapeutic relationship is an unbiased and non-judgmental bond between the counselor and the client, so just try once and speak your mind freely. You will definitely feel better.”
