I have had anxiety issues, insecurity, anger management, blind rage towards my family member for quite a few years now, which I had ignored – consciously, ignored stating that I will work on it today, tomorrow, yoga will help, I should meditate, do rigorous exercises….. these little changes in my life will change my mindset. But, deep down I too knew that all these were mere ways of escaping from facing the problem.

This lockdown I finally decided to take the bull by its horn. I cried out for help – help to talk to someone who was and will never be part of my life. A third person who will not be be biased towards what I feel or think. Thankfully, I went in for counseling and these sessions put things in perspective.

It led me to see the rational aspects of events in my life without attaching emotions to it. And, that helped. It made a huge difference to an otherwise confused ‘me’. These sessions held a mirror to me and I could see myself clearly for the first time in my life.

I am not healed completely. At least I see myself progressing somewhere. I am less anxious, less stressed, I get less worked up. I do-not chatter unnecessarily to anyone and everyone anymore – I am no longer scared that people will sense I am insecured. I pay more attention to the conversations I am a part of. I am a lot more assertive now. And, above all, I have chosen myself, my sanity over everything – something similar to what the ace tennis player Ms. Naomi Osaka did a few days ago.

Counseling and Therapies help. I still have anger management, I am envious of others and I do suffer from anxiety issues – the beauty is I am not ashamed of it anymore. I am not afraid of my ugly side. I donot look at myself as a monster. Thanks to the counseling sessions, I appreciate myself of being honest about my emotions to myself. And, What a relief that is . I just love being myself. Counseling helps.