Suraj is a 30-year-old employee in the sales team of a private bank. He currently resides in Bangalore and used to work as a sales executive at Upgrad.
He is originally from Uttarakhand, where he spent most of his childhood. His family includes his parents, brother, sister and grandmother. Suraj elucidates that he was closer to his grandfather as a kid, who passed away during his teenage years.
Suraj was an introvert during his school days and used to be more interested in dancing. However, his parents were strict and keen on education, so he had to focus more on his studies despite his lack of interest.
“I spent most of my childhood with academic books; I rarely participated in extracurricular activities and hardly had any friends. It eventually led me to be interested in studies and numbers.”
Suraj currently lives alone in Bangalore, while his family resides in Dehradun. He shares that he is still an introvert with fewer friends but feels comfortable with his calm lifestyle, where hej can spend his free time on hobbies like travelling, poetry, and playing the flute.
“Firstly, working in sales, I rarely get time to myself; when I can find that time, I prefer reading in solitude rather than socialising.”
With all the knowledge Suraj acquired through his books, he became more fascinated by psychology during his academic years. As he researched more about counselling psychology, he learned about the YourDOST platform and its services. He wanted to explore the platform but didn’t have the resources then.
When Suraj joined Upgrad, he was informed about their tie-up with YourDOST during his onboarding session. He felt excited and curious to explore. He immediately began the sessions with the available counselor and started working on himself.
Suraj explained that he felt safe and comfortable during his session because he could interact anonymously. He adds that the experts listened to every problem he had with empathy and kindness.
He expressed all his struggles in life as he wanted to gain closure. Suraj recollects talking to his counselor about his days preparing for government exams in Uttarakhand.
“I began my preparation after finishing my degree in engineering, just like many people in my state, but I always feared that I wouldn’t clear the exams. It hindered my focus, and I couldn’t wholeheartedly study for it.”
Suraj explains that he always believed in himself during school but developed these self-doubts after college. This was also why he felt drawn to understanding human psychology.
Eventually, with therapy, Suraj discovered that it was the fear of rejection that made him hard on himself. He shares that understanding the underlying causes and reasons made Suraj feel mixed emotions and cry out in his sessions.
“The sessions were outstanding and better than I had imagined. It helped me realise many things about myself, and my counselor slowly guided me towards finding my confidence. I completely trusted them in each session.”
He expresses that his counselor let him be himself in the sessions and assisted him in sharing all his emotions, thoughts, and feelings. The counselor also employed various affirmation techniques, which helped boost Suraj’s self-confidence even more.
Suraj realised that taking the steps to try and fail matters more than being rejected. He adds that his fears started to reduce and, after a while, completely disappeared.
“Every small activity in therapy helped and made me feel good about myself. It taught me that I can succeed if I believe I can, and even if not, I can try again, learning from my experience.”
Suraj explains that he also started performing well at his job and is looking at every small milestone of success. He became mentally strong and told himself that he would try until the last minute in every situation and that he would not submit to other people’s judgements.
As he feels better, Suraj thanks his counselor for assisting him towards progress and for helping him recover from his emotional turmoil.
“Therapy was extremely beneficial, and the counselor was invaluable. They remembered everything I spoke about in each session, even when there was a month gap. They helped me improve without repeating my mistakes.”
As Suraj feels he is at a 5 out of 5 in his progress rate, we are confident that he will attain his goals and reach success.
Suraj’s Warrior Tips:
1.“Nobody can stop you from anything unless you let them.”
2.“Build a strong mindset to move forward towards your goal despite obstacles.”
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