(Trigger warning: post contains mental health issues related to depression and suicide)
“After annoying Pratyasha and Roopal for the 62nd time by not giving them a ‘Humans of Arthagya’ story, only because I am lazy and consider doing nothing but breathing as an extracurricular activity, here I am with this one.
I decided to write this when I was actually supposed to be studying, but the lockdown is an absolute bummer. I don’t feel energetic enough to study how an investor can maximize his profits when the whole world is dying. I was about to talk about my silly childhood but after learning about Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide, I couldn’t help but think how terribly we have failed as a society. An immense amount of pain causes one to push oneself to take such an extreme step. Many people are commenting suicide doesn’t make sense. Well, that’s exactly the problem – depression is irrational.
I say this because I myself had clinical depression for 2 years. I remember skipping my meals for 3 days, only because I did not feel like going down to the mess to eat and the mess did not allow us to have our meals in our room. I also had thoughts of killing myself. Only the thoughts of my parents would stop me. Having depression feels terrible.
The second year of college was the worst year of my life. People were there only to provide me with solutions. I wish they were there to listen. There were also those who made ignorant comments on my depression. Yet there were also those who were there for me with the best of their intentions. I remember Pranita cleaning my side of the room many times when I couldn’t spare the energy to do it myself. I still don’t want to clean it often though that’s because I am innately lazy. Satakshi is the best. I don’t know how I would have managed with all the anxiety in my mind if it weren’t for her kind thoughts to help me out.
From personal experience, I know a lot of us are trying to be better people. Let’s not allow some social media activists to haunt us for a mistake we made in the past. Just because you did a wrong thing to a person once does not make you a ‘terrible’ person always. People make mistakes. At times, we have to cut them some slack. The thing that matters is that we must try to be a better human. It’s not always easy to help others, especially when our own life feels like a mess. Everybody has problems. We must first consider our own feelings before sharing someone else’s burden.
Being kind might not be fun always. After all, no one can turn into a devta altogether. But we can do is keep trying to improve and become more considerate. We must try hard because every 40 seconds, someone commits suicide. I wonder how in a population of billions, people cannot find others to talk to. All of it sounds confusing, I guess. What matters is that we be kind, be there for people, chill out and have some fun.”
Payal Sharma is a third-year student of Economics at IP College for Women, DU.
(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. You are not alone.)
PROPHETS OF PROFIT 