“Be the best among the rest” is a quote that engineering students swear to. They are the epitome of hard work and resilience and can fly out from the ashes like a phoenix.
Sridhar Gupta is a warrior who has been the face of ultimate perseverance. A student of the prestigious NIT Delhi, this 21-year-old also hails from the capital.
He described his family as being orthodox and conservative but was very lenient in his upbringing. He had a good schooling and made many friends during that time. He described his life to be a pretty normal one.
“As far as my hobbies are concerned, I consider myself an all-rounder based on my varied interests.”
Sridhar describes how he plays all sports and is also into music. He ranked third in his semester examinations, showing what an incredible and bright student he is.
We are all close to different family members based on the rapport we share with them. For Sridhar, that’s his elder sister. He is also close to his parents and has a good relationship with the family.
“My college has partnered with the YourDOST platform, and that’s where I learned more about it.”
The platform was introduced to engineering students of the National Institute of Technology, Delhi, as a medium to explore the services and share their concerns without barriers. Sridhar describes a general characteristic of students being less expressive about their emotions.
“With their free trials and therapists visiting the campus at least two times a week, YourDOST is an excellent initiative to help students like me.”
Sridhar met his therapist, Dr. Seema Seth, through the platform.
“Dr. Seema is a knowledgeable and practical therapist who listened to all my concerns and did not impose pre-conceived solutions on me.”
She was practical in understanding his issues and guided him through various concepts that helped him make a mindful decision rather than jumping to conclusions.
“I opted to go for therapy primarily for three reasons that bothered me the most. I had some issues in my personal life along with a lack of motivation. I wanted to improve myself as well as get some insights and help with my love life”
Sridhar explains that he had an “annoying habit” of being a people-pleasing person. To tackle this, his therapist explained his behaviour through an example. She compared the characteristic to the general fear of an imaginary ghost in all of us and how it usually happens in the dark. It is all the same as the insecurities that are fostered in us, and our brain creates irrational fear due to the insecurity.
Similarly, the habit of people pleasing destroys self-respect and our feelings, while keeping high regard for other people’s feelings towards us.
“I couldn’t let go of my feelings for a girl and shared the concern with my therapist. She explained how due to a surge of emotions, a solution would be to not act up on my sudden mood changes and urges and give it a thought before going forward.”
This had a major impact on Sridhar’s thoughts and feelings and he started incorporating these solutions into his daily routine.
He was asked to note down the things he missed the most about his ex-partner and do the box breathing exercises to calm himself down in stressful situations.
Sometimes even if we water a plant and take care of it over and over, it doesn’t bear any fruits or flowers but keeps growing. However, the growth of the plant ensures that there will be fruits and flowers soon.
Sridhar’s improvement is comparable to the growth of the plant. Though he could not pinpoint the positive changes, he felt a change of feelings and emotions inside which was just the beginning.
“I am very grateful for the attention I was receiving for my smallest of small concerns from my therapist.”
Sridhar was in a stressful situation in his life, therefore with perseverance and guidance of his therapist, he kickstarted his journey of healing. He was falling prey to various negative coping mechanisms like stress eating and dissociation during those times, thus gradually he recognised these mechanisms and took a mindful decision to put an end to them.
Sridhar rated his post-therapy experience with a golden 4 on 5 and shared how he is moving on each day towards his goal with unmatched resilience. We, at YourDOST, are positive that in no time he will conquer the mountain with a solid 5!
Sridhar’s Warrior Tips:
1.“My friends and companions are motivated to seek help for their concerns after hearing about my experience. Similarly, everyone should take care of themselves and seek help if ever needed.”
2.“Talk to a therapist as openly as you can as they are professionals who can handle and help you with any concerns you may have.”
Team YourDOST
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