“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus
20-year-old Tina (name changed) is an ambivert by nature who bears multiple interests. She is pursuing her B.A in LLB from Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies. She shares a great relationship with her family and is passionate about acting.
“I have a very supportive family and they have never stopped me from doing what I aspired for.”
She heard about YourDOST through her college as a poster was put up and she decided to come book her first session as she would often find herself grappling with her negative thoughts.
Tina noticed a constant pain in her chest. She also experienced panic attacks and anxiety issues, and she dealt with low self-esteem.
“Moving to a new city away from home put me through a lot of emotional drains. I would often feel exhausted and would have no support around me.”
India as a country has slowly started adapting the idea of moving it. The GenZ is more proactive to these neo-liberal concepts and is also effectively working towards it.
“I had my first panic attack almost a year and a half ago. I was going through loneliness and things started spiralling down.”
Tina expressed how this change around her was all too much to bear and it would start affecting her mentally. She also explains that she would always like to enjoy the company of her friend and she picked up traits of being a people pleaser to keep her circle.
She later started realising the toxic impact it started having on her and decided to put a stop to it. Living with anxiety is not easy, it’s a like ticking time bomb waiting to blast at any given time and mostly ends up leaving you exhausted after its occurrence.
I had a pain in my chest, couldn’t breathe, and would always feel like I would die.
Tina figured out all these traits aligned with signs of anxiety and realised that she was not fine and needed help. She took her first session of counseling via YourDOST which is an emotional wellness coach through her college.
“I shut myself inside my room for almost 4 days in 2022. There were different scenarios I underwent panic attacks for. I kept myself away from people and maintained distance. I slapped myself, picked up my hair, clenched my fist every time I got anxious.”
Tina’s counselor Ms. Rineeta Bannerjee, helped her take control over her frequent episodes of anxiety through various tactics. She was suggested with the method of box breathing, also known as square breathing.
It helps in slowing down one’s breathing as a counter to anxiety attacks and works wonders in distracting the mind from the trigger point.
“I was quite sceptical about the idea of counseling in the beginning. Later, I was head-over-heels about the same after a few sessions.”
Counseling took Tina to a great new position in her life and the biggest issue, anxiety, had started to fade. She was constantly trying to improve her mental health day by day as she managed to follow Rineeta’s guidance thoroughly. Additionally, she articulated that she has reduced people pleasing, stopped overthinking, and is keeping herself engaged with things.
“She was always there for me. She helped me build a new confident Tina and always knew what needed to be done in my times of turmoil.”
Tina offers her unbounded gratitude to Rineeta for her constant presence as she didn’t know with whom she could share her troubles.
We, at YourDOST, feel immensely glad for Tina for her incredible courage and belief in improving herself. Tina rates her leap from uneasiness to triumph with a 4 out of 5. Surely, she has come a long way and we wish her prosperity and success.
Tina’s Warrior Tips:
1.“We need to start somewhere. Without starting, you can never put an end to your problems.”
2.“Take therapy, and follow everything your counselor taught you. You will be surprised by the goodness it holds.”
