Catharsis

A New Perspective: Safety and Courage When I was back in Delhi, I started looking forward to my life in Melbourne. But this time, there was a shift. I knew that if things went south, I could always return home. Not that I wanted to, but knowing I had a safety net made all the difference. It gave me the security to explore, take risks, and start truly building my life here. Sometimes, just knowing that you're loved and supported is enough to give you the courage to move forward. Building Relationships: From Survival to Connection This time, when I returned to Melbourne, I came with a new intention. I was determined to make this place feel like home—not just by surviving, but by actually building meaningful relationships. I wanted to connect with people, explore Australia, and invest in bonds that mattered. Gradually, Melbourne didn’t feel as foreign anymore. In fact, I began to like it. As one of my loved ones had wisely said, "You have to explore the place to fall in love with...

What if your dream move turned out to be your biggest challenge? Six months ago, I packed my bags and moved to Australia to pursue my Master’s in Counselling. I had imagined a fresh start, filled with new experiences and growth. But what I didn’t expect was how much this journey would test me mentally, emotionally and physically. Looking back, I see this time in two distinct phases: the first three months of survival and the next three months of slow adaptation. Phase 1: The First Three Months – Survival Mode The first three months felt like a whirlwind of logistics, learning curves and an overwhelming sense of loneliness. The Basics: Navigating a New System From opening a bank account, getting a SIM card, finding a house, and settling in, it felt like my life revolved around checklists. Finding a part-time job was another challenge, but one that I knew was necessary. At university, I quickly realized the education system here was nothing like what I had known at DU. Lectures were just...

My therapist often says that since time immemorial, the world has been afraid of strong, vocal, independent, ambitious women who won’t take no for an answer. And you are one such woman. Of course, I feel powerful when I hear this. I’ve always wanted to be one such woman, and I’m liking the person I’m becoming. However, it feels exhausting sometimes, doesn’t it? To live in a world of misogynists, in a patriarchal world, trying to be fire. Trying to do something for herself, for many women around the world she doesn’t even know herself. Because even if I can influence one person, it is an impact. I can impact a life and so many people around them. But it is exhausting because you realize your own father is a toxic masculine man, many of your close guy friends are misogynistic, objectifying women, slut-shaming women, and for that matter, sometimes behind your back, you’re the one being slut-shamed. It is exhausting to fight back against every dominating, controlling alpha male. It costs m...

I recently graduated from college and was fortunate enough to start working where I wanted. Currently, I'm employed in an IB school as a part of the Special Education Department. It's only been a month since I began working here, but this experience has prompted me to reflect on numerous aspects. By writing this, I hope to track my progress and observe how my feelings might evolve over time. I want to let readers around my age know that they aren't alone in their experiences if they feel similarly. Moreover, I believe it will offer the older workforce insights into how the current generation perceives workplaces. The first week consisted of a training program aimed at acquainting employees with the school's culture, mission, values, and the IB curriculum. I recall questioning whether I could thrive in the service industry, waking up as early as 6 a.m. and returning home exhausted. Previously, I would come back around 4 p.m., fall asleep by 5:30 p.m., and wake up directl...

The other day, I was sitting with my group of friends and sharing how twitter has become so negative and toxic nowadays with all the news content that it has taken a toll on my mental health, when a friend of mine playfully mocked me by saying “mujhe pata thha tu toh snowflake hai” (I knew that you were a snowflake).  For those of you who don’t know what the term  “snowflake” means, the English dictionary defines it as a derogatory term to describe an easily offended person. Members of the so-called “snowflake generation” are typecast as emotionally weak and lacking resilience and use of the term has been uniformly negative. There’s also an association with words such as “sensitive”, “triggered”, “easily offended” and “thin-skinned”  In calling someone a snowflake, you are not just shutting down their opinion, but telling them off for being offended and shutting a person down is anything but freedom. And if you, the snowflake, are offended, then you are simply proving th...

The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.  –Alvin Toffler             What is unlearning?   Unlearning is the process of realizing that something which we learnt earlier is incorrect, ineffective, or obsolete, admitting it and deciding to erase such bad conditioning and misconceptions out of our mind for good. It is the process of exploring what we have stored in our system and deleting all the unnecessary data. It is the process of saying bye to an old, obsolete, and outdated paradigm, and embracing a new paradigm and willingly undergoing a paradigm shift.   Unlearning means stripping away the beliefs and ways to act/behave/live that have been imposed by our upbringing, by our  education , by the society we live in. It means challenging everything we've come to know as "the way things are supposed to be" and embracing "the way things  are....