Piyush is a 34-year-old product manager at a corporate company in Bangalore. He used to be an associate director of growth at Loadshare.
Piyush comes from a family of five, including his parents, one elder sister, and one elder brother. Since his father is a professor, Piyush was raised in an environment where education was prioritised above everything.
After schooling, Piyush started coaching for the IIT entrance exams. Despite the coaching not being up to par, he still got into the top universities, which felt like his first huge success.
After Piyush moved to Pilani to pursue his undergraduate studies, He explained that he met with his first-ever setback. He was diagnosed with arthritis.
Being in a new city away from home and facing some constraints on his physical activities, Piyush couldn’t focus on his academics as much as he expected. He still pushed through and finished college.
Piyush started working in the tech industry, worked hard, and saw success in quick internals. This gave him confidence and made him feel like everything was going great. However, in 2023, Piyush lost his job during a market crash, which created fear and self-doubt.
“It was not making sense to me. I was emotionally hurt. I kept asking myself why this would happen to me despite the effort I had put in. I thought travel and rest would get me out of the negative loop, but even after months, things didn’t get better. I felt like I was pushed into a downward spiral.”
Piyush thought that if he rested and travelled a bit, he would feel relaxed and return to his usual self, but days and months passed, and things didn’t get better. He explains that even after getting a job, Piyush felt he wasn’t motivated to do anything. He realised he needed to introspect to understand how to resolve his concerns.
Knowing that some of his friends seek therapy to cope with difficult situations, Piyush decided to try it, too. He started taking sessions from the YourDOST platform through their partnership with his company, Loadshare.
Piyush recollects that since it was his first-ever experience in therapy, he had mixed feelings about it. In the first few sessions, he struggled to open up. After researching the experience of the experts on the platform, he started connecting with Ms Sudipta Mitra, whom Piyush believed to tick all his boxes.
Piyush opened up to his therapist about how he was experiencing anger, frustration and depression all at once. He elucidates feeling like an imposter who didn’t have the confidence he once used to have.
He recollects that, understanding his issues, Ms Sudipta gave him a structured approach. They identified anger as his prominent mood and then went deep into the underlying reasons for such emotions.
Through the sessions, Piyush also realised that his overthinking was what led to his anxiety and issues with confidence. The therapist discussed concepts such as the five whys, the origin of conflicts and understanding their reasons. Learning these, Piyush explains that despite the loops of thoughts he would enter into, he could always arrive at a calmer place towards the end.
“I could finally reason with myself and find a better balance internally. I’m more relaxed, have found a firm grip on my interpersonal relationships, and have resolved all my negative thinking patterns.”
He also picked up reading more and started enjoying the art of cooking, which helps him feel calm. As he keeps improving himself, Piyush feels grateful to Ms Sudipta and his close circle for supporting him through his challenging phase of life.
Piyush adds that he still panics when there is a lot of professional stress, which he continues to work on in the sessions. He rates himself 4 out of 5 on his growth, and we wish him the best to reach wherever he desires to be in the future.
Piyush’s Warrior Tips:
1.“You are the driver of your body and mind; therapy is the SOS you call when your vehicle breaks down or malfunctions.”
2.“Therapy doesn’t fix your problem, but the guidance gets you started.”
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