You're the Real Badass

During the COVID-19 lockdown, I started to feel very anxious. Often I would cry and wouldn’t even know the reason why I was crying. I told my parents that I want to opt for therapy. My parents have always been aware about mental health issues because my mom has had OCD and depression. They agreed and supported me. I went to the therapist, the same therapist who treated my mom. I told her about my issue and the required treatment began in September 2020. My therapist suggested that I go to a psychiatrist too because she felt I needed more than just Therapy. The psychiatrist again was the same person who treated my mom.

I got the required treatment and the required support. By January 2021, I began to heal and I came out stronger. Instead of victimizing my struggle with anxiety, I felt like a badass for smiling, talking, studying and doing the same things that any other person would do, even with such a turmoil in my head. I started to talk about my story on social media platforms because I knew that there is a lot of stigma surrounding mental health even today. 

When my first article got published, I received over 20 DMs on Instagram. Out of those 20 DMs, most of them told me that they had been suffering from anxiety too since a very long time and asked me for advice on how they can overcome their anxiety. What I could do at Max was to be there as a listener when they were in pain and just provide emotional support. I knew I couldn’t help them cure their anxiety, after all, I am not a professional therapist or psychologist. I suggested that they consider therapy and seek professional help.

The replies that I got from most of them really saddened me. Almost all of them told me that professional help is not an option for them because their family does not believe in mental health issues. Some of them were way too afraid to tell their loved ones that they were suffering from a mental health issue because they thought that would really worry their family as mental health issues are considered such a big deal in various cultures. Some of them said that they are way too young to take professional help on their own and will have to take help of their family. Others said therapy or any kind of professional help regarding mental health, is way too expensive for them. They told me about how they were in pain, how their chest would feel heavy, how their head would start to pain because of the anxiety they felt all day long and how they wanted to just get rid of all the turmoil that was there in their heads. 

Listening to the plight of all of these anxiety survivors who reached out to me, I felt, professional help regarding mental health is still a privilege or a luxury to many. Why most people refused professional help for anxiety is because of two reasons:

1. The stigma surrounding mental health issues.
2. The lack of affordability of mental health aid resources.

People are made to believe that mental health issues do not require professional help. We need to understand that our mind is a part of our body. If we seek help for a typhoid fever, we can similarly seek help for mental health issues. This is the most important reason I decided to talk about my story because I wanted people to know that it’s normal. We can talk about anxiety and mental health illnesses just like we talk about any other disease or discomfort. Our mind is a part of our body. If the body needs help at times then so does the mind.

It is time for us to normalize mental health, break the stigma surrounding it, and make therapy a little more accessible and affordable for all. Therapy should no longer be a privilege or a luxury. The least we can do to break the stigma and normalize these issues, is by talking about them, reaching out to more and more people.

Let’s do it! Be kind, be aware and make others aware. High time we get over these taboos!

I feel anxiety survivors should start to talk about their health issues. Here I am, an anxiety survivor, still striving to get better while talking about my entire journey.

I want to let people know that mental health issues should not be stigmatized. I want to reach out to as many people as I can through this article to help spread the word. I want to help people realize that they need to stop worrying about how their family will react or what their friends will think, and seek professional support if they need it. Also, I want therapy to be seen as a way of discovering yourself rather than just a way to recover from a mental illness. Even a person without a mental health illness can go to therapy if they’re stressed and need a bit of help.

Many people still remain unaware about the organizations, such as the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, which provide free mental health resources.

I wish to reach out to people, like myself, and tell them to speak a little louder about their health issues. There’s nothing to be ashamed! Having an illness, whether physical or mental, and yet going on with your daily life, is such a badass thing to do! I wish i could make my past self realize this, but i know there are others out there who need to hear these words.