“Carpe diem, seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” – John Keating
Kerala is a land of culture filled with spices, history and backwaters, heritage sites, and resources and the place where the traditional dance forms of Mohiniaatam and Kathakali originated.
Our warrior Slade’s (name changed) journey in anchoring himself with his purpose in life began at a young age. He belongs to a family of four and grew up in Kerala, Mumbai and he is currently in Bangalore.
He has a sister and his parents are in Kerala. He is 30 years old and works at UpGrad.
He is into academic hobbies, playing chess, drawing and painting, coding, guitar and enjoys reading books. Adulthood is a voyage that one must embark on, with the stars of childhood as guides the principles, Slade had no choice but to embark on it early on.
He is close to his family but there are differences here and there and has learned to live through them He belongs to a family of four and mentioned that he is close to his mom, as he was the eldest he remembers his childhood to be filled with memories of curiosity and responsibilities.
Each of our voyages toward attaining purpose is different, for some, it feels like a mundane merry-go-round and for some, a rugged roller-coaster ride.
In Slade’s case, it was a blend of both. He narrates how growing up had its hardships to handle and that his relationship with a person he developed had been complicated for quite a long time.
Stepping into therapy is a process, and change happens at one’s own pace of acceptance. He felt things falling apart for him, and it was around this time his organisation partnered with YourDOST and offered free counselling services.
“My idea of therapy was that you don’t need it if you know yourself. It was a tool to help you manage yourself and your life better.”
He decided to book his sessions with Ms. Ishita and the journey was arduous but liberating.
“I am glad my organisation helped me meet my counsellor. I was going through a breakup, and I am glad I got in touch with my counsellor, and it felt liberating.”
Slade expressed that meeting his counselor helped him feel non-judgemental, she understood him, and she was patient in listening to him.
He mentioned how his break-up cost him too much as he felt like he lost his center and this devastated him and did not know how to move forward and realised he needed professional help to get back to his regular self.
“She was important to me,the break up was really bad.. The only one opened up to left me to bleed. The life that I imagined and the dreams I saw faded away into nothingness.”
Giving a part of our soul to somebody is when we get extremely vulnerable in our entire life and when it does not work out or is not respected, we become desperate and start doing things we otherwise won’t.
He has been down in the trenches before, but never lost his center. When the inevitable demise arrived it broke the very person he is.
“For a very long time, it was difficult accepting it wasn’t his fault and it was my counselor who helped me through it by asking me to take a look within yourself.”
Slade is already on his path to betterment and explained how he communicated well with his counselor and shared everything with her.
“She spoke to me about the different techniques. Writing those feelings down and fighting to change myself. and my stubbornness helped me get out of the rut.
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” – John Keating.
He describes how he proactively took action to work on himself and her techniques helped him understand his behaviour patterns.
Voyages come with their survival instincts and the most proven way to survive is to stay patient and collected. Our warrior stuck by these words and liberated himself from things that put him down.
When we asked him what would his words of gratitude be for his counselor he said:
“Thank you Ms Ishita for providing me with the space and comfort to feel re-affirmed and continue moving forward.”
He described that the one thing that stuck with him which his counselor said was
It’s not your duty to save everyone and begin by saving yourself.
“I dealt with a saviour complex and I have learnt how to manage it better through therapy.”
Slade is a true warrior for stepping up by taking situations head-on and managing them like a pro.
When we asked him to rate himself on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of how he feels his transformation to be he rated himself with a killer 4.5, and we are super excited to see him in his high spirits!
Slade’s Warrior Tips:
1.“You are not alone, sharing it with professionals will never make you a small person.”
2.“It’s okay to seek help when you cannot deal with things by yourself.”
