Why am I doing this?

Ever since I was a child, I wondered why people did what they did.  Growing up, I met and have interacted with a large variety of people, from loud opinionated leaders to shy mysterious fun-lovers, from insensitive bullies to kind, caring friends. I wondered how could people living in the same town, belonging to the same age group, from similar socio-economic backgrounds be so different from each other?

As I started reading more trying to find the answer to my question, I became aware of the things that ticked me and the kind of people that affected me. A simple curiosity paved its path for a trip to self-discovery and I realized that personal experiences play an equally important role in personality development. Unsurprisingly, no two people are exactly the same. There are always these certain specific qualities that make them starkly different from everyone else. Everyone has a unique opinion about everything around them.

So, here come the important questions: will people be ready to believe that mental health is as important as physical health when a century and a half ago, they did not even acknowledge the mind’s existence? Even if one person agrees, will the others have the same opinion? How can one change the world when they can’t even get more than a few people to agree on the same point?

You can say that I’m a little too romantic when I say that movies and books have had a huge impact on how I see life. I love stories in all forms and the one thing that every story has taught me is that if you want something to happen, you have to start taking action. It does not matter who you are, where you are or what you have; if you have an aim and the determination to realize it, you will.  The hope that it will all work out one day makes me keep pushing on.

Going back to those questions, well, they really bothered me for a long long time. Then I thought, how am I to know if I don’t try? A very important person in my life once said to me, “Sreya, if you don’t ask, the answer will always be no.” Even though it is easy to give in to negativity and self-doubt if we really believe in something and are ready to give all it takes to make it come true, one day our efforts will surely pay off.

With this optimism, I start my blog on mental health awareness where I will talk about what is meant by psychological well-being, discuss the stigma around it and the reason for so, point out some tips and tricks to help improve mental health, give explanations of everyday terms that mean more than we know, share stories of people who’ve fought bravely against various mental illnesses, and stress on why being aware is so important.

“Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.”

                                                        -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (A Psalm of Life)

Be kind; it does save lives.