I am with you. If you need any sort of emotional support, a shoulder to cry, a word of encouragement, someone to talk to, express your fears or frustrations, complain about any injustice, share your pain or happiness, or just a company, I am with you. We all need to be there for each other in a moment of need, this is an ideal I strive for, it may or may not happen, but there is no harm in trying. This post is not a reaction to the suicide of a young and successful Hindi cinema actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The post was planned and prepared much before that, I just felt the need to publish it after reading the news about this unfortunate incident. My views about mental illness and suicides were completely different while growing up in India and during my initial years in the USA, I used to think only weak people commit suicide. However, over the years I educated myself about the topic of mental health and learned a lot about it which I didn't know before. This learning changed my views completely and allowed me to look at my own life from a different perspective. Part of the reason for my ignorance can be attributed to the taboo associated with this subject in Indian society where I was born and grew up. Actually, it would be unfair to single out India for having a taboo associated with mental health-related issues, such a taboo still exists in many societies even today.
Mental health is a very complex subject. It is not easy for many to understand it, but everyone needs to make an effort to learn about it as we all may suffer from some mental health-related issues at some point in our lives. Whether we realize it or not, we all go through these things, the only difference is in some cases it is more severe compared to others. We all go through complex emotions, and our reactions can be vastly different towards the same incident, the intensity of emotions, and ways of expressing them differ from person to person. Many of us are vulnerable under certain situations, we feel insecure, scared, depressed, or anxious for some reason or for no reason at all. It is important to have some support during these unsettling times, it is especially important these days when families are nuclear and most people prefer to live a separate and independent life. It is not bad to be independent, rather it is a good thing, independence teaches us many valuable lessons. However, on many occasions, we need some psychological help and support, and if we are alone it is hard to find such support. We all need such support, we need someone with whom we can share our feelings, our fears, concerns, our highs and lows, where we can be ourselves without being judged. Even though we prefer to be independent and there is a physical distance that separates us, we can make use of technology to bridge that gap. Bridging this gap is now possible with the invention of social media, we all can support each other no matter where we live or how far we are from each other. Of course, it will be great to find someone like this among the people from our immediate surroundings, but if we can't, we should not hesitate to find genuine support in the virtual world.
I want to be one such support for people who need it. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and I will try my best to be a person who could offer the required emotional support. It is easy to get in touch with me, apart from this blog, I am on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I believe that offering someone support or hearing ear or encouragement is not a favor but can be a very rewarding experience for both people involved in it. I have done it on multiple occasions, someone did it for me when I needed such support and in both cases, it has enriched my life. Emotional exchanges are not easy, one has to cross a barrier before sharing their vulnerable side with others. Crossing this barrier can be easy for some and extremely difficult for some, it's a personal journey and personal challenge. It is true that emotional exchanges cannot be a one-way process, there needs to be a connection. Unless both people connect with each other there can not be a proper exchange of emotions, and there cannot be a bridge through which emotions can cross from one person to another, such connection is crucial. However, establishing an emotional connection does not always mean one can feel the pain or fear to the same extent as the next person is feeling, it is important to understand those feelings. It is extremely hard if not impossible to understand what exactly another person is going through. I have learned it through personal experience, it's easy to say "things will get normal," "be strong," or "don't worry," but sometimes things never get back to normal, people don't want to be strong, or they cannot stop worrying. A person who is offering support needs to recognize these feelings and then only can offer any useful support to someone going through an emotional crisis.
Depression or any other mental issue is real and let's talk about it. There is no shame in asking for help when we need it. People of all genders, sexual orientations, and social or economic backgrounds might go through mental health-related issues. Let's try to support each other and devote as much time as we can to help each other whenever one of us needs such help. I know that not everyone will be interested in devoting their time to this nor everyone can find some time to do this, let's try to contribute as much as we can within our limits. But if it is please consider it, mental health is as important as physical health, and if we can develop a community that can support each other's mental health, let's do it. Remember, I am with you if you need me.
Mental health is a very complex subject. It is not easy for many to understand it, but everyone needs to make an effort to learn about it as we all may suffer from some mental health-related issues at some point in our lives. Whether we realize it or not, we all go through these things, the only difference is in some cases it is more severe compared to others. We all go through complex emotions, and our reactions can be vastly different towards the same incident, the intensity of emotions, and ways of expressing them differ from person to person. Many of us are vulnerable under certain situations, we feel insecure, scared, depressed, or anxious for some reason or for no reason at all. It is important to have some support during these unsettling times, it is especially important these days when families are nuclear and most people prefer to live a separate and independent life. It is not bad to be independent, rather it is a good thing, independence teaches us many valuable lessons. However, on many occasions, we need some psychological help and support, and if we are alone it is hard to find such support. We all need such support, we need someone with whom we can share our feelings, our fears, concerns, our highs and lows, where we can be ourselves without being judged. Even though we prefer to be independent and there is a physical distance that separates us, we can make use of technology to bridge that gap. Bridging this gap is now possible with the invention of social media, we all can support each other no matter where we live or how far we are from each other. Of course, it will be great to find someone like this among the people from our immediate surroundings, but if we can't, we should not hesitate to find genuine support in the virtual world.
I want to be one such support for people who need it. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and I will try my best to be a person who could offer the required emotional support. It is easy to get in touch with me, apart from this blog, I am on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I believe that offering someone support or hearing ear or encouragement is not a favor but can be a very rewarding experience for both people involved in it. I have done it on multiple occasions, someone did it for me when I needed such support and in both cases, it has enriched my life. Emotional exchanges are not easy, one has to cross a barrier before sharing their vulnerable side with others. Crossing this barrier can be easy for some and extremely difficult for some, it's a personal journey and personal challenge. It is true that emotional exchanges cannot be a one-way process, there needs to be a connection. Unless both people connect with each other there can not be a proper exchange of emotions, and there cannot be a bridge through which emotions can cross from one person to another, such connection is crucial. However, establishing an emotional connection does not always mean one can feel the pain or fear to the same extent as the next person is feeling, it is important to understand those feelings. It is extremely hard if not impossible to understand what exactly another person is going through. I have learned it through personal experience, it's easy to say "things will get normal," "be strong," or "don't worry," but sometimes things never get back to normal, people don't want to be strong, or they cannot stop worrying. A person who is offering support needs to recognize these feelings and then only can offer any useful support to someone going through an emotional crisis.
Depression or any other mental issue is real and let's talk about it. There is no shame in asking for help when we need it. People of all genders, sexual orientations, and social or economic backgrounds might go through mental health-related issues. Let's try to support each other and devote as much time as we can to help each other whenever one of us needs such help. I know that not everyone will be interested in devoting their time to this nor everyone can find some time to do this, let's try to contribute as much as we can within our limits. But if it is please consider it, mental health is as important as physical health, and if we can develop a community that can support each other's mental health, let's do it. Remember, I am with you if you need me.
Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic.
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