I have read multiple articles on ‘How to take care of your mental health’ during this lockdown and as much as I feel relieved about reading about the different kinds of ways I can help myself during this time, I have realized that conversations on mental health isn’t a binary. We are trying to make content that is relatable, however, we often forget that each emotion out there is unique and is a product of different circumstances. So I thought this article should highlight my experience and my conversation with my friend who is a practicing psychotherapist.
Before we go ahead with highlighting the snippets of our conversations we would like to acknowledge the fact that we are extremely privileged to study/research and afford therapy.
Mira: This lockdown has been overtly suffocating for me. Sometimes my parents look at me doing nothing sometimes and then they say, “You will never get this luxury of time back in your life”. Every Instagram story I see has to do with someone learning a new skill or finishing a reading list. I read the posts which ask me to “take it easy”, but with a full time job and the anxiety that the days are shorter than the nights, I cannot help but sleep with guilt each day. There’s an everlasting to-do list of things I have to watch, read and word on. I am unable to cope up with it. How do I ensure that I do not have such unrealistic standards kept for myself which I strive to achieve everyday?
