Priya, a 23-year-old IT professional working as an analyst at Freshworks, moved to Bangalore full of hope after getting the dream job she had always wanted.
Born in Trichy, she was raised in favourable circumstances at home and had a comfortable relationship with her parents. She is also a highly passionate woman who loves to play music and dance through the stage and in life!
“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women are merely players.” – William Shakespeare.
Although things looked near perfect in the world’s eye, Priya seemed to have a lot of self-doubts. She kept looking for the light from every angle, like the young sunflowers turning around in the field.
“Ever since school, I was not given a lot of opportunities. I have had a lot of insecurities since childhood, and I always felt neglected.”
Initially, Priya thought she had grown out of her issues, but moving to a new city with a new job made her find it considerably extravagant. She struggled to find a work-life balance and felt her roots running out of nourishment.
“I’m a big advocate for therapy, but I never thought I would need it for myself until I reached a point and broke out.”
Initially, she ignored what was happening with or around her. Despite her healthy relationships with people, she feared that her insecurities were starting to hold her back from finding the sunshine.
“When I couldn’t handle it anymore, I realised I had problems. I had frequent panic attacks in the middle of the night, and I wasn’t even aware that they were panic attacks.”
When the piled-up anxieties led to a sensation of withering in her routine, she found out that her company, Freshworks, is sponsoring therapy through YourDOST. It took her some time to accept her situation, but she hustled through the wind and contacted the counselors available on YourDOST.
“With all the trauma I carried through life, I was overwhelmed. I finally approached for help.”
Slowly, during the sessions with the counselors, Priya gained various insights about her thought processes. They helped her understand that getting to the other side of the bridge was a continuous process. She started scheduling regular therapy sessions every week, which helped her internalise the changes.
“If people around me behave differently, I used to get very paranoid. I always thought they would stop liking me. I feared abandonment.”
Priya had anxieties primarily developed around her insecurities and obsessive thoughts. Eventually, with therapy, she had a lot of self-reflection and started realising that the light she was looking for was within herself.
Among other things, Priya always felt conflicted about not continuing her passion because of her unresolved mind state. In the course of therapy, she decided to restart everything she hit a pause on! She realised that to find the liberation she was looking for; she had to search in the place where she lost it!
“When my inner child was soothed, I stopped punishing myself. I even re-joined my dance classes after 11 years to acknowledge freeing myself.”
Along with talking through her issues, her counselor also gave her an exciting exercise to deal with her childhood trauma through positive affirmation, which has helped Priya exceptionally well. She was also made to do some journaling techniques that helped her with her triggers about people.
“I’m able to accept that there are a good bunch of people who are going to be happy that I’m walking into the room than leaving it.”
The counselor’s constructive feedback and restructuring of her thoughts helped her acquire control over her emotions and life. She points out that it wasn’t easy to accommodate, but therapy helped her work on that part of herself.
She is grateful for her counselors as she blooms through the shadows clouding the sunlight. She feels they understood her situation and knew how to get to her roots.
With the newly gained control of her emotions, just like a grown sunflower that stops the spins, Priya rates herself 4 out of 5 in terms of improvement.
A single sunflower head has to bear thousands of florets to be complete, and we are proud of Priya for spreading myriads of her petals and seeking therapy to stand bright and tall!
Priya’s Warrior Tips:
1.“People hold back from therapy, thinking it is giving up, but therapy is a ‘Leap of Faith’!”
2.“Therapy can empower us enough to gain control of our emotions. I know because that is where my path is right now!”
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