What will those four people say if I continue on this path?
Just let it be, this is how we are expected to behave.
Suck it up, this is how it is gonna be…
Often we hear parents, family, friends and ?society’ around us mentioning these words whenever we try to cross a boundary that was set years ago for some unknown reason. Well, maybe it is time that barriers are actually breaking. People are more vocal about their needs and expectations. And to a much bigger surprise, the society is not only acknowledging it, but also joining hands in the act. Confused, right?
Let’s hear it from our next guest writer Parika Bhatli, herself. She, as a mental health advocate, is on a mission to build a positive community around her and it is the support of people around that motivates her to keep going.
“28 April 2020 the day I started blogging about mental health. It’s huge for me because I never knew I would ever be public about my depression journey and will meet such beautiful human beings (virtually) along with my journey of depression and recovery. I always used to write! In fact, I love to write how I feel! It’s like keeping a journal of my feelings/moods. I used to write on the Evernote/Notes app when my family used to think why am I always on the phone? Who am I talking to! But I wasn’t actually talking to someone, I was expressing my feelings. That calm once you write down how you feel is surreal!
For fourteen years I was struggling with my depression and writing was my biggest escape but gradually when 2018 happened and I lost it, I ran to a therapist because I needed help. I stopped writing! But eventually a day came when I just randomly opened my Word doc, wrote what and where I had published it on Medium and never knew that I started a journey called “being a mental health blogger.” Trust me it wasn’t planned!!
But the very first blog gave me such strength and huge support that it became a mission to become the voice of the voiceless. I started writing all the ordeals I have faced or went through! I was raw, I was real! All I have written so far is what I have been through or experienced and I just loved the way people resonated with it and showered me so much love and strength. Those messages/tweets/DMs they just always pushed me to keep writing, I guess that is what one needs…that little push.
Social media has been a great tool to express my mental health and being connected to such amazing warriors out there; because being vulnerable about your mental illness takes guts and connecting millions of lives and helping them speak up takes courage, which I believe my blogs are doing. So yes, I am a depression survivor and a mental health blogger who is on a mission to end the stigma against mental health.”
We agree that life is not always hunky-dory. Some of you may relate to the worst of experiences in this regard. Society has been harsh to you, and trusting them with your feelings is tough. But Parika’s experience is a true example of how it is all on the path of change, a change for good. Each one of us has our own struggles going on and there are people who look out for a supportive hand, so why not be one? The real change begins from within!
It is all about making this world a better place for each other with trust and harmony. Let’s choose optimism and let go of the negatives. We are the real representatives of society. Let’s live it up, together!
