Bell Let’s Talk | My Story

Hey #Prepsters

Today is ‘Bell Let’s Talk’ day so I thought it would only be appropriate to re-share my story about my struggle with major depressive and anxiety disorder, to help bring awareness to the cause. If you have been reading my blog or following along on my social media since the beginning, you may have already heard myself talk about my struggles or experiences.

Before I get into full details about my story, I want to bring attention to the Bell Let’s Talk initiative because it truly is amazing. Today, Bell will donate 5 cents more to mental health initiatives for every: text message sent, mobile and long distance call made, tweet using #BellLetsTalk, and share of the Facebook image. For further details visit the Bell Let’s Talk website.

I will be honest now, as I will be leaving out a lot of really personal details, but more so I will be talking about what it feels like and my progress, because I can truthfully say that right now, I’m in a really amazing place in my life. The last 6 years of my life were super challenging for numerous reasons (the part being left out), and I knew that something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel like my normal self anymore, in fact, I felt like I forgot who I was and how it felt to be happy. I seemed normal on the outside when I was with my friends (for the most part), but on the inside, I felt tormented. I gained 80 lbs, became lifeless, felt worthless and started isolating myself from everyone. Even worse, being in University, I also realized that I was unable to concentrate at all.

I knew that I wasn’t just feeling down or going through a phase, and until a couple of years ago, I didn’t even want to talk to anyone about it. But I finally took the step to talk to a therapist. My therapist recognized that I had the symptoms of depression and through testing, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive and Anxiety Disorder. I actually felt relieved that I finally knew what was wrong, but at the same time, I also felt worse knowing that there was something wrong. I was asked if I wanted to try CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) or try prescription medicine. I turned down the medicine because I hated the side-effects of it. So I set up CBT sessions bi-weekly, and through this I learned how to alter my train of thought to be more positive, and also, I created a time of the day where I could get any negative thoughts out. And this may come as a surprise, blogging was also a part of my process. That’s actually part of the reason I started blogging. The CBT didn’t seem to be super effective immediately, but a couple of months later, I saw a major change in myself.

Slowly but surely, I learned how to cope with my disorder. Fast forward to now, I couldn’t be happier. I still have moments where it is hard, but with the CBT methods that I learned through my sessions, I found several different ways to control it. I haven’t even been to a therapy session in almost a year, which shows the kind of progress and effect it had on me. So that’s my story! As I mentioned earlier, today, Bell will donate 5 cents more to mental health initiatives for every: text message sent, mobile and long distance call made, tweet using #BellLetsTalk, share of the Facebook image. For further details visit the Bell Let’s Talk website.

Feel free to leave a comment below, tweet me @ThePrepGuy and share this post.

Love,
Syed Sohail
The Prep Guy