T.W. Mentions of Suicidal Tendencies
Shringa is a 20-year-old from Maharashtra. She is a student at IISER Mohali in Punjab. She is studying 3rd year of an integrated BSMS. Her hobbies include reading and writing growing up. Star gazing and cloud watching are a few hobbies she does occasionally.
She expressed that browsing through Research papers and studying volcanology concepts is something she enjoys.
Childhood is indeed the most beautiful stage of a human’s life. It’s where we are bound by values and learn to assimilate bonds as we grow. She belongs to a family of four.
“I remember most of my childhood to be shaky, I was rebellious but after college, the relationship with my parents has been alright.”
As she was reminiscing about things
A lot of things about her personal life were expected to be shared with her parents and she wished to always keep a boundary between her personal life and her family but she could not do it. She also expressed how ever since college things haven’t been challenging for her.
Shringa also narrated how growing up was challenging as she dealt with mental health challenges since her 8th grade. Shringa heard about YourDOST through her college as the organisation had an official partnership as the emotional wellness provider with the college.
“I decided to book my sessions with my counselor. I still remember how they were difficult, and I used to sit there and cry a lot not knowing how to frame my sentences.”
“I feel like my counselor is the only person I have in the world and I can open up to her without any hesitation.”
Shringa never gave in to the situation and always had hope burning in her heart and hoped that things will change. Her counselor Ms. Akshaya Murali comforted her and helped her speak up about her problems. Shringa described that she found her comfort space, and it became easy.
Navigating through these emotions, Shringa developed a romantic relationship with somebody she met, and things were good in the beginning.
While it was all sailing smoothly for Shringa, she was loyal and committed to her partner and was dreaming of a future with him. Things slowly started changing as she started observing the way he started avoiding her.
“I never understood what really happened, this resulted in a lot of confidence and I started believing that I am incapable of receiving love and that something is wrong with me.”
As Master Oogway puts it:
“No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.”
It is often noted in life that we tend to put effort into things and expect too much in return and when our expectations are not met it is disheartening. It takes a really strong heart and a balanced mind to understand this and continue moving forward by taking things as they come.
Shringa described that her ex-partner decided to call the relationship off, and her whole world collapsed. She was confused about what went wrong and began second-guessing every memory and emotion she shared with him.
“It broke my heart to hear him say that as I was emotionally dependent on him it affected his mental health and he was not able to handle it.”
Shringa felt a huge hole in her heart and this worsened her mental health pushing her towards self-harm thoughts. She continuously kept blaming herself for the situation and this affected her.
She described that Her ex-partner mentioned that it was getting to him and hence called the relationship off. This came as a total shock to her as she felt the grounds with which he decided to call the relationship off felt baseless.
“It tore me into pieces when he said being with me feels like a waste of time and he would rather be on Instagram spending time.” Speaking to my therapist, Akshaya felt like I had a direction on how I position myself. She was amazing and would always check on me even when we did not have a session.”
Shringa expressed her gratitude to her counselor and also spoke of the techniques she suggested to her with. Some of these include centring thoughts around things you can change/control and start focusing on that.
Every time she experienced thoughts of self-harm, Shringa was advised to be around cold exposure.
Things did slowly start becoming better and she was able to slowly see change happening to her and her mental health as she ensured to follow everything her counselor taught her to the T.
In the movie, The Kung Fu Panda, the character faces numerous setbacks in his journey to become a kung fu master, but he perseveres, learning from his mistakes and using them to improve himself.
In our own lives, we will inevitably experience failure and setbacks. However, it is important to remember that failure is not the end. It is a part of the journey towards success, and we can learn from our mistakes and use them to improve ourselves.
Shringa’s story is the perfect example that defines these lines and she has come a long way from how she started.
In her journey of transformation, she has hustled hard and become resilient, courageous and assertive and we here at YourDOST are supremely proud of our very own Dragon Warrior.
When we asked Shringa to rate herself in terms of feeling better after her therapy sessions she rated herself with a whopping 4 on 5 and we couldn’t be more excited and happy for her never giving up the spirit and wish her the very best.
Shringas’s Warrior Tips:
1.“Everyone has underlying problems that need to be addressed before they take a U-turn on you.”
2.“Talk to a counselor, you will feel better and also discover so many things about yourself.”
3.“Counseling is a journey of self-discovery.”
