You, Your & Yourself

By Mehak Chhabra

 You, Your & Yourself" is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, as Mehak Chhabra emerges from the darkness of depression with newfound wisdom, compassion, and a profound understanding of the resilience within us all. This book is an empowering guide for those struggling with depression or unknown symptoms, their loved ones, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the human experience. In this raw and thought-provoking memoir, Mehak Chhabra invites readers on a transformative voyage, encouraging empathy, awareness, and compassion for those navigating the depths of depression. "You, Your & Yourself" offers solace, inspiration, and a guiding light to anyone seeking to understand mental health's complexities better and embark on a path toward healing and self-discovery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023

Book preview

Chapter 1 -

Introspection - Be Your Own Lantern

Hold a Lantern in the dark, introspection reveals the hidden corners of our mind, allowing us to navigate the complexities of our inner world

It’s difficult to live in a body that causes you to feel sad all the time. The normal course of events is disrupted. You don’t need bad energy when you’re depressed since you’re already a negative person. It’s all about the blues, when self-doubt is at an all-time high. NO HAPPINESS! NO HOPE! NO MOTIVATION EXISTS! You begin to act like a lazy sofa, lounging in your bed all day. You are more prone to abandon practically anything, from taking a cold shower to earning a living.

Because we are already depressed & a single post related to sadness leads to more of the related content. And, whatever type of content we consume makes us think the same way. Trust Me! We actually start enjoying this phase. But, I must tell you this enjoyment phase is just limited to a certain time only. So, introspection is a must. Otherwise, things get worse & sealed lips gives more scars. Exploration of one’s own mental health gives new heights of wealth. I have seen people falling from terrace making just the jiffies lasts for the world to talk about at their death ceremony.

But the need of introspection is an overnight thing? I am damn sure it’s not. As the mental illness goes unnoticed for many years. Probably it begins in childhood. You might be thinking how the happy faces can be on the verge of depression. [¹]Approximately one of 11 children experience some form of depression by the time they are 14 years old. Furthermore, if the depression is not prevented or caught in the early days, the risk of relapse is very high. In actual sense, childhood depression is real and is easy to treatable. The root cause of depression in children can be due to a family history of depression, life stressors like losing a parent, discrimination, divorce, abused, negligence or any chronic illness.

In a country like India, it is too hard to identify the signs of childhood depression because we believe in healing at home. We don’t take our headaches too seriously. We think a cup of ginger tea is all we need. Fever in children is cured at home with various homemade nuskas. So, it’s not an easy fact for Indians to accept mental illness and in a child it’s a BIG NO. A child not doing well in school is often looked us DUFER. Parents constantly demotivate their own children by comparisons. But, they fail in identifying what is that keeping their child not to score at least passing marks or why they are not amongst the toppers of the class. When parents struggle to identify their children, many adults engage in self-introspection. For many years, many other symptoms in children go unnoticed.

The depressed adolescents either tend to involve in love relationships or at least starts smoking. Through love relationships the depressed children try to find the desired love in other people. [²]By smoking nicotine stimulates the release of the chemical dopamine in the brain. In a depressed person the dopamine is less and smoking temporarily increases the dopamine supply. When someone around us in the age group of 15-18 years gets involved in love relationships or starts smoking we often look as the child is not on the right track. But, why don’t our parents or elders try to investigate what is happening? An adolescent falling in love or smoking are more likely to be the signs of depression.

In the eyes of me, love relationships in the adolescent period are reckless mistakes that too leads to a lot more depressive phase. We as a new generation holds a lot of responsibility for our children as we don’t want them to suffer what we did in our times. At least I feel parenting classes should be given to the new parents. Giving birth to a child should be parent’s decision not families. In India majority of us struggle with a lot of things. Like a girl at an age of 14 years is always expected to at least know how to cook a chapati. Likewise, a boy is expected to pursue those courses that gives him a nice salary package. And, when a girl is married she is expected to do household-chores and job together. She is majority of times juggling between her career and the