“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius.
Kaushik (name changed) is a testament to the statement “process over result.” Kaushik grew up in a family of his parents and two elder sisters. Since both his elder sisters were significantly older than him, he felt like an only child. His elder sisters had already left for college by the time he finished upper kindergarten.
He is the closest to his youngest older sisters despite their 12-year age gap. Kaushik describes himself as always being a bright child. However, at times, this did not translate into his academics. This was partly because he played for the school’s basketball team, and balancing academics and basketball proved challenging.
When talking about his personality type, he mentions that he has been both an introvert and an extrovert at different stages of his life. During his school days, he usually hung out with smaller friends circles, and that circle got bigger and bigger as he went through college and post-graduate degrees.
It was during college in 2019 that Kaushik experienced his first anxiety attack. After numerous incidents, he decided to seek help. He visited a psychiatrist who prescribed him medicines, which helped him deal with those instances better.
These medicines did help Kaushik navigate his issues with anxiety, and over time, he slowly weaned off them. He continued to have regular sessions with his psychiatrist.
However, over time, this proved little helpful. During that time, he was pursuing his PG diploma in management, BIMTECH, and since his institute partnered with YourDOST, he signed up for a session on the platform.
The counsellor he spoke to, Ms Sanjana Guha Roy, was not the first counsellor he had spoken to, as he had previously taken therapy. However, his first impression of Ms Roy was a good one.
He describes her as cheerful, supportive and composed, which helped him open up.
During his initial sessions, she made him take a depression test, and the score he received was on the higher end. While there was initial scepticism about whether the counsellor was a proper fit, Kaushik’s attitude made all the difference.
“I was also very optimistic and pretty easygoing despite all I had been through.”
Since his interactions with his counselor were face-to-face, Kaushik was motivated to work on some of the exercises and practices assigned to him.
After multiple sessions, Kaushik started to observe some changes within himself. One significant change he felt was when his placements happened. The year when he was sitting for placements, the job market was quite bad, with limited opportunities. A few years ago, in a stressful situation like this, Kaushik would have panicked and struggled with his anxiety, but this time, he was able to weather through without any episodes.
Kaushik rates himself as 4 out of 5 in terms of feeling better. To him, improvement is a gradual change, getting one per cent better every day, and that is what he practices as well.
Kaushik’s Warrior Tips:
1.“Be open to answers and questions during therapy. It will only help you learn more about yourself.”
2.“Trust in the process, especially during the tough times. The process is what will get you from bad times to good times.”
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