Anonymous
The world around us changes every second that passes by, with people perspiring, inspiring and continually trying to be better at what they do. Each one of us has his/her share of laughs and tribulations, representative of the stories we bear inside. The world we live in expects us to make our marks and be ‘somebody’, which has by default, now become the circle of life. You work, you achieve, you gain recognition and this reinforces us to work further. As people keep working for betterment and upliftment of others, they as a society often forget that every being as an ‘individual’ possesses the inimitable capability to live and endure whatever life throws at him/her.
This ignorance of individual differences culminates into people developing a reference point with which they validate or invalidate another person’s privation. To begin with, a simple instance, if person A exhausts after working for 5 hours while person B does after 8 hours, doesn’t make the former less deserving of being tired. Likewise, when listening to one’s hardship, if we start comparing how he/she has had less bad than us, we nullify the person’s struggle just because he/she didn’t go through ours. To tell how trivial their problem is, it is the furthest possible thing we do from helping.
Invalidating another person’s struggle may put him/her in a turmoil of going through the hassle but not allowing the world within to assert itself. Consequently, it is rendered insignificant even by the bearer. It is not possible to have solutions to each and every problem of the world and sometimes people may not be in need of advice, but may plainly want to express. We make an impact on the world around every single day, be it positive or negative, either way, these little impacts tend to create a difference. Hence, it is in our hands what kind of difference we want to make and to make one, one doesn’t require credentials but a concern.
Similarly, if people begin to realize that those with mental health issues, it is a disorder and not a decision they live with, may aid in reducing the stigma around mental illness. Neither every person can be a mental health professional, nor can everybody access one, therefore, to lend a listening ear is an act of kindness because we must never forget “one shouldn’t be for pleasing others but be against hurting them.”
Dr. Nandha Kumara Pujam. S
Department of Clinical Psychology
Faculty of Behavioural Sciences
SGT University
