Damselz-In-Sanity

Hello hello and welcome back to today's blogzo!  So...it's Valentine's today. Some of us are single, some of us are dating; some of us have it "complicated" and some of us are married (hopefully no one from this blog's target demographic!) Truth be said, I had no idea what this blog was going to be up till a week ago. Do I write it about How to be a better person to your partner? How do you open up about your relationship?  But then I realised, that this isn't a "Love" blog, but rather a Mental Health one. Valentine's is the day of love - showing, giving and receiving.  But as much as you do the above to someone, it's also important to do that to you. I'm talking about Self Love. Whenever some of us hear this word, we often associate it with selfishness. The truth is that it's far from that. Self - Love is about accepting and acknowledging you. Narcissism is about putting yourself above others. We all get caught up in the hustle a...

 Hello hello and Happy New Year everyone! It's been a while since I wrote a blog (about 4 months), which is around the same time when I left for college.  Getting ready to leave meant mentally accepting that I'd miss out on some of Mumbai's delicious foods, comfort, and weather for a while. What I did not anticipate was missing one of the most basic human needs: a hug.  We can all agree that hugging someone you've grown up with and really love, wraps you in a comforting blanket of warm embrace. It makes you feel wanted and loved. It makes you feel happy. And when you're surrounded by unfamiliar faces, it takes a while to find "your people" and accept that warmth.   As children, we instinctively understood the language of hugs. Think back to the hugs we shared with our parents before heading off to school, or a friend if they hurt themselves running in those corridors: these moments weren’t merely routine; they were succinct expressions of love and security...

Recently, I was talking to a bunch of people and ranting about the Hindi syllabus of ICSE . For those who went through the system, you and I both know the struggle of reading Sukhi daali and Deepdan. For those who didn't, just be glad. The thing that irked me the most about that conversation was that they kept referring to the chapters as "traumatic." And I realised that this wasn't the first time such an incident occurred in front of me. By introspecting my conversations with people, I realised the term was trivialised, simply because they didn't know what it meant . Google defines Trauma as an emotional response caused by severe distressing events that are outside the normal range of human experiences. Take a second to read the underlined words: severe, distressing, outside normal. Trauma is a strong word. Unfortunately, it has become ubiquitous in our lexicon, applied liberally to describe an ever-widening spectrum of experiences. When you use this word in ...

  Some days rule: You feel like the most productive person in the world, everything seems to go your way and life feels good; you're on Cloud 9. Some days suck: They make you feel sad and all you want to do on those days is curl up into your blanket and wait for the day to end. And some days, are simply, blah: The middle ground. Blah days are ones where you don't feel your best - something just feels off; things don't seem to snap into place and the very idea of getting it into place leaves you with lethargy. But why are they important? Why do most of us experience it, regularly? Because these, unexpectedly, are the "scariest days": they make you question your current lifestyle, your environment, your life. I don't like the above thought. Instead, I like to look at them as perspective days. Blah days are those which help you realise what you're doing with life and what your goals are. See, when you're in a state of enjoyment or morose-ness, chances are...

 I've been in college for about over a month now. In the 40 days I've spent here, I've visited the food hall over 100 times - of which the Hot chocolate machine has been broken for over 90. Bombay's humidity was quickly replaced by Boston's "Fall" (it's winter guys) and the only thing helping me through the transition was a cup of hot chocolate every morning. But about 2 weeks in, the hot chocolate machine broke.       Initially, a piece of paper, closely stuck by tape, lay pressed against the machine: " Hot Chocolate Machine is Broken! "  4 weeks in, it's now a laminated sheet of paper, carefully stuck to the machine. Someone took the time to type it out onto a computer, print it, cut it, have it laminated, and stick it up to the machine. Do you know what they could be doing in that time? (Hint: getting the machine fixed!) This post is not about the machine. (Obviously Kuhu, it's a Mental Health blog - get to the point!) We often pro...

"Wish I had hair like them." "How do they manage being the best at EVERYTHING?" "They're so fit  - look at me: a couch potato" We've all compared ourselves with the people around us. We all compare ourselves with the people around us. We get jealous, begrudged and green with envy. And sometimes we just smile to not let the world know. We get insecure. We feel bad. But what we always forget to accept is the state of the situation. Our situation - their situation. Literally no one out there is a 100% happy with their lives. And, unlike the cliches, maybe we shouldn't be.  Who said that you have to be happy all the time? If you're happy all the time then how do you become a better version of yourself? There will always be someone smarter, richer, more popular, and better-looking than you. Healthy competition is good. It's not a bad thing to have people be better than you. It's a bad thing if you accept that you can never work hard and ...

“Isn’t it funny how, day by day, nothing changes, but when we look back, everything is different.” -C.S. Lewis If you go to the gym for the first time, and you work out, and you come back, you look in the mirror, you will see... Nothing. If you go to the gym the next day, and you come back, and you look in the mirror, you will see... Nothing. Clearly, there are no results, can't be measured, it must not be effective, right? This is the thought that often leads to us quitting. The problem doesn't solely lie in the lack of patience, but rather, in the lack of material. If we don't see it, we tend to believe it doesn't exist. That's where we get it wrong. "Good things take time. Getting better takes time. Building a habit takes time." But they also take consistency.  Going to the gym for nine hours does for a day not get you into shape. Working out every day for 30 minutes gets you into shape. Studying a chapter one night before may work (sometimes); but in t...

Officially the time of the year when most of us know where we're going to college!  College is stressful: no cap. But what's equally more stressful is the process that builds up to getting into a good college. Whether you're in the Indian education system or an international applicant, we all know that competition is getting tough. Getting into a well-accredited college in India means  and abroad: But real talk: what happens AFTER the whole process? After you commit to a school? I like to phrase this feeling as Tun-tun mausi ke taane. Why? Because no matter what you do or where you end up - there's always someone to talk bad behind your back, nullify your hard work or simply claim, "Oh I'm better."  In the case of college apps, this is manifested by googling the acceptance rate. Let me draw you a picture: Person A gets into an Ivy League/IIT, person B is at a good college and person C got into a local/community college. It's been ingrained in our syste...

 I have been a movie buff for as long as I can remember. My 2 favourite categories: Bollywood and Animation. Now in the past, I've authored multiple posts on Bollywood (check them out here! ) but I realised, I've never written one on the latter! Animated films formed the crux of my childhood. While as a kid I absolutely loved the visuals and music, it was only when I became a teen and started to realise the depth behind each film. Animated films are NOT kid films. They're so much more than that. And when I realised this, I thought, why not write a blog on it, hmm? So, here are my favourite animated films which I beg you to watch at least once in your life! Number 1: The Kung Fu Panda series Po is the goofball you absolutely need in your life. The writers neither missed the comedic timing of his antics nor the subtle life lessons exuded through each of the films. It teaches you to believe in yourself. Yes you can be a panda and a dragon warrior in the same go. Yes, you can f...