From the fertile soil being blessed by the joining of the five rivers, Punjab is famously known for its culture and cuisine, and our warrior Aakarshit belongs to this state blessed with holiness, wisdom, culture and tradition.
Our young and dynamic 21-year-old belongs to a close-knit family of 4 and loves to play sports.
He is pursuing his Bachelor in Pharmacy from the famous Lovely Professional University. Aakarshit is from Ludhiana, in Punjab and he grew up there and shares a great relationship with his parents.
His childhood was good, and his parents would often work he shared a decent relationship with his neighbours and would spend time with them when his parents were away at work
Everything was going well, but things started taking a major toll on his health and these events swayed Aakarshit into a storm.
Aakarshit developed a romantic relationship towards a girl he liked. However, the relationship was facing several problems. They experienced severe cultural indifferences. Just like in the 2 States movie, things took some time to settle down between both of them. Aakarshit and his partner tried staying patient and communicating well with each other during these difficult times.
He expressed that he understood that all they had was each other at the end of the day.
“I met with an accident and underwent surgery and this affected a lot of my mental health.”
These events left him stranded in a deserted place where he could not process what was happening around him.
“Starting a day felt like starting a new problem and it would always leave him feeling exhausted and drained out.”
His cloud of confusion was now growing alongside anxiety and self-esteem issues.
His family and friends were quite supportive and understanding, however, their care and comforting words were not reaching him.
“The day I realised that my mental health was getting affected, I started my search for professional help. I needed to solve these problems on my own.”
Aakarshit reached out for professional help, he got in touch with counselors of YourDOST through his college’s partnership.
At first, he had doubts regarding confidentiality on an online platform. But after having weekly conversations with his counselor, he started warming up to the essence of counseling and therapy.
He became more trusting of her counselor, the process and himself. Ms. Karuna Ahaley, his counselor seemed to have quite an impression on Aakarshit. He found her to be extremely empathetic, sweet, welcoming and most importantly safe.
“Karuna introduced me to various techniques to help me, deal with my anger and relationship issues.”
Aakarshit explained how he initially came to YourDOST seeking support for his relationship. However, with time it became about self-improvement and goal-setting and he followed through everything she taught him.
He started noticing little changes around him with each day as it came and this resulted in a profound impact on his day-to-day tasks, personal relationships, professional goals and much more.
They have known each other for almost 3 years now and are happily in a relationship strong.
He was also suggested with anger management techniques, breathing techniques, scribbling/doodling, and maintaining a journal.
“At times it was difficult to follow up the methods, but I know if I had not sought professional help, it would have taken much longer to heal.”
The journey was rocky but Aakarshit emerged victorious beautifully. He is grateful for having his counselor beside him through his hard days. Today he is much more confident and knows how to speak up about things. He has started understanding the perspectives of other people and this helped him manage his emotions better.
“My maturity improved and I was able to visibly see it, and I owe it all to my counselor.”
Therapy has helped him make more informed decisions, build self-confidence and more importantly, evoke his compassion and work on his relationship together with his partner.
He describes his improvement as a dynamic developmental process and rated himself a magnificent 4 out of 5 in terms of getting better.
Aakarshit’s Warrior Tips:
1.“The more you speak up, the better you can let things out.”
2.“Talk to someone professional, they will be able to help you without judging you.”
3.“Counseling sessions are safe spaces to open up and trust the process.”
