5 THINGS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE.
Last one will shock you!
I remember myself as a hyperactive teenager, hopeless, careless and obviously goal-less. I was never keen to learn new things, the reason? I was too busy with my own silly shenanigans.
A person with no particular aim in life falls prey to depression more easily then a person with goals or certain mindset in life. I saw my peers succeeding, getting accolades, and I was there, standing and watching them succeed, doing nothing. As expected, I was diagnosed with Severe Depression and Anxiety Disorder when I was just 16 years old.
Cutting the long story short, that was the day when THE SILLY FALAK started becoming THE FALAK she is right now.
These are the 5 things that changed my Life by 360 degrees -
- MY THERAPY SESSIONS
- My therapist just knew what was the deal with me. She listened to my blabbers and listened more.
- After few days, she gave me a sheet known as IKIGAI SHEET, and told me to find my IKIGAI. Now what is IKIGAI? Ikigai is a japanese concept which means A SENSE OF BEING, putting it in simpler words, finding your IKIGAI means finding the purpose of your life, or discovering something you could devote your life to. After few sessions, I was able to find it.
- And THAT little thing which I thought to be so silly initially changed my life to the core.
2. MY BOOKS
YES. I was an avid reader since my childhood days, but in my teenage years due to all other habits I had lost my interest in reading books and gaining knowledge. As I said my therapist changed my life by helping me to find my IKIGAI, she changed my life my re-introducing me to the world of books. I no longer felt the peer pressure jabbing me. I felt as if I am transported to a different world while reading books and I certainly loved it. I also noticed few behavioral changes in me, it calmed my anguish.
3. MEDITATION
I was reluctant at first but eventually I agreed to spend 20 minutes just closing my eyes and doing nothing. But learning the art of doing NOTHING for just 20 minutes daily changed how I looked at my life. Sometimes there is so much you get from nothingness, I call it CONSTRUCTVE NOTHINGNESS. It tamed my inner frustration, my directionless mind and my aggressiveness. I still do it till date and I no longer need those toxic anti-depressants.
4. JOURNALLING
I practiced two types of journaling as advised by my therapist —
A. GRATITUDE JOURNALING
In this method, you have to jot down three little things that you are thankful for. Even if it is a little pen/pencil, pay them your thanks for making your life easier. Gratitude is the biggest healer, I am saying this for a reason, Mate.
B. NOTE JOURNALING
In this method, I used to pour down my feelings, or what I felt throughout the day, what happened in the whole day, all the things. I did this before going to bed. It is something like writing down an AUDIT of your day, or just jotting down how your day went and little positive things of the day. There can be negative or bad things too, but you have to tear off that day i.e. the page from your journal. It feels good to do so, as if you are throwing all the memories in a dustbin. THEY ARE NEVER COMING BACK, I SWEAR.
5. STARTING MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
Ummm… this might sound silly, but YES, if used constructively and wisely social media can be a life changing tool. I was never an achiever kid in my life, I was always a backstage badass. I never got a chance to express my feelings/ thoughts, I had to suppress them because I never got a chance to.
Social Media gave me the power to express myself the way I am, to portray my creativity. I used to write book reviews of the books I had read, post my poetries and guide people to find a goal in their life(@falakjoshipura) and got some cool number of followers too. It helped me build my self esteem, recognize my true worth and value myself even more. I got a definite purpose. I learnt new skills like photo editing, video editing, graphic designing and digital marketing for free from youtube and skillshare. I became much much better version of myself and I am absolutely loving the change.
BUT AT LAST, I JUST WANT TO SAY -
KEEP COMPETING WITH YOURSELF, AND NOT OTHERS.
Comparing myself with others gave me depression, competing with myself to become a better version of me made me the champ I am today.
