{"id":15888,"date":"2020-08-24T14:05:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T08:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/?p=15888"},"modified":"2020-08-24T14:05:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T08:35:58","slug":"akshay-self-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/akshay-self-confidence.html","title":{"rendered":"How This IIM Student Learned To Become His Own Favourite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>&#8220;Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, that\u2019s the only way to describe Akshay\u2019s* journey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Akshay, 23, is currently pursuing his MBA at one of the country\u2019s top IIMs. A sensitive &amp; brilliant soul, he thoroughly enjoys reading and writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometime after joining his business school, Akshay started experiencing insecurity about his future, and felt that his lifestyle was unstable. He would often find himself caught in a vicious cycle of anxiety, anger and insecurity.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had become insecure about my body and hair. I would feel helpless and insecure in my social circle. I would feel inferior to my friends. I was desperate to feel like I\u2019m a part of the crowd, and the resulting FOMO even alienated me from my favourite hobbies &#8211; reading and writing<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coming from a relatively rural background, and having moved to a new city for his MBA, Akshay felt like a misfit in an urban setting.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was experiencing a complete identity crisis. I was underconfident and\u00a0felt that I didn\u2019t deserve anything good in my life. My relationship with my partner also became extremely bad<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15890\" src=\"http:\/\/yourdost-blog-images.s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/24135948\/successstory-blog-akshay-1.png\" alt=\"Dejection\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To cope with his tormenting feelings, Akshay would use what he refers to as &#8216;junk happiness&#8217;.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would watch porn, eat unhealthy and drink alcohol. I count these as junk happiness<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They didn\u2019t prove to be of much help either, particularly porn.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I personally didn\u2019t find porn healthy at all. To be very honest, I used to feel guilty about watching it. It started affecting my opinions about sex, the opposite gender and love to a certain extent, and this was unacceptable to me<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately thing got so overwhelming for Akshay that he knew he had to get help.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was caught in this cycle of thoughts and lifestyle patterns which made me realize that I needed help<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0He first approached YourDOST in July 2019. He connected with Psychotherapist, <a href=\"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/talkItOut?yd_source=YDBlog&amp;yd_medium=InternalLinking&amp;yd_content=AkshayConfidenceWarrior&amp;yd_campaign=BlogPostPromotion\">Ms. Sudha Ananth<\/a>. Over the next few weeks, they explored what were the precise issues that needed to be addressed. They were able to boil it down to three issues &#8211; Stress, Anxiety, and Obsessive thoughts. Now that the problem had been revealed, it was time to work on resolving it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therapy proved to be quite effective for Akshay.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have been able to resolve many issues, after I understood my problem<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Akshay realised that he hadn\u2019t been very honest to himself with respect to his goals and his life, which affected his self-confidence tremendously.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I took\u00a0baby steps. I started feeling confident in my social circle.\u00a0 I&#8217;m able to articulate my thoughts much better. Eventually I cleared my internship interview. It gave me a much needed confidence boost and confirmed that the steps I took were in right direction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15891 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/yourdost-blog-images.s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/24140019\/successstory-blog-akshay-2.png\" alt=\"Akshay felt more comfortable in his social circle\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 640px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 640\/350;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Akshay also started feeling more comfortable with starting conversations with people. He became comfortable in his own skin.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I focused on my body. I started working out more regularly along with good diet and sleep.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0He also started writing again and became goal-oriented in his outlook.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I focused on little goals and completed them. It made me confident. A sense of achievement made me realize that we can do whatever we want if we are completely honest about the goal<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember that identity crisis he was experiencing? He found his own unique way of dealing with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I realized family and friends are the most important parts of our lives. I reconnected with them. Just talking with them gave me a much-needed escape from my own self-eccentric thoughts.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After talking with them, Akshay felt more connected with his background and identity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I never felt much-connected in an urban setup. I realized that I don\u2019t necessarily need to feel connected with urban life.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is what is called a complete makeover don\u2019t you think? Akshay has one last word of advice for others who might be in need of support.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be honest with yourself. If you are going through some problem and it is affecting your daily routine, work and general happiness, share it with your family and friends.\u00a0<\/span>If you are not comfortable with them, visit a psychologist or counselor. It is much easier nowadays to get help without any judgement<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Akshay\u2019s story fills us with motivation to work on ourselves and overcome all our issues for a happier life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>If you too are looking to become a better version of yourself, please know that we\u2019re here for you. <a href=\"http:\/\/yourdost.com\/?yd_source=YDBlog&amp;yd_medium=InternalLinking&amp;yd_content=AkshayConfidenceWarrior&amp;yd_campaign=BlogPostPromotion\">Talk to a YourDOST Expert<\/a> today, for personalized guidance.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"background-color: #91908f; width: 100%; padding: 25px; border-color: #white; border-width: 1px;\"><strong>Akshay&#8217;s Warrior Tips:<br \/>\n1. There is no obligation\u00a0that\u00a0connect with your surroundings if you\u2019re not comfortable in them<br \/>\n2.\u00a0Stay connected to your roots<br \/>\n3. If you feel overwhelmed, talk to your loved ones. If that doesn\u2019t help, talk to a counselor<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly&#8221; Yes, that\u2019s the only way to describe Akshay\u2019s* journey. Akshay, 23, is currently pursuing his MBA at one of the country\u2019s top IIMs. A sensitive &amp; brilliant soul, he thoroughly enjoys reading and writing. Sometime after joining his business school, Akshay [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-growth","category-self-esteem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}