Fighting depression during the pandemic.

Most people in India still shy away from the topic of mental health.

It seems like the concept of mental well being is not something they understand or empathize with. Why ? Why can’t they see mental illnesses to be something similar to any other ailment that can effect your body ?

With a raging pandemic wrecking havoc everywhere there have been more and more people staying at home.

People who otherwise would have spent very little time locked up at home, have started spending days and weeks holed up here.

Its not easy being indoors for so long.

To feel your freedom – that you took for granted, being taken away from you.

When my maid told me the other day about several people in her residential area dying, she meant it as a supernatural occurrence.

Probably there is something supernatural to it, but what was evident is the lack of mental well-being.

Imagine a person who earned a living doing petty jobs. He may have earned enough previously to be able to survive, it may have become close to impossible now.

Such a person going into depression or landing up taking their own life is not surprising but is surely saddening.

Maybe if we as a society had seen the signs or had attempted to help others out, the said person may still have been around

Everyone has faced losses this pandemic, sometimes its a family member, other times someone we knew.

For some it may have been their own mental stability and freedom. Not everyone may have been lucky enough to have a sacred syllable to lend a listening ear to all their crap.

But being a little nicer to people may help them out.

You don’t need to do much.

Call up a friend, talk for a few minutes- let them know you still think about them.

Or if a call is too much, a simple text message or a mail with a few nice words.

We may never know who may have found some hope or a solid ground to stand on thanks to your kindness.

Stay connected to your family and friends . Let them know you are there and let them not be another name in the book of “victims of depression “

Thanks for reading.