“It was the summer of 2013. I felt ashamed that I as a man, as a young man was breaking down in a public space.”
When you’re sad, you either tell people what you’re upset about or you just say it’s nothing and pretend to be fine. But when your sadness reaches beyond the point of sadness, you then don’t know what to say anymore. Or maybe you do, but words fall short. Or maybe they don’t, and you cry out too loud. Either way, someone hears- and sometimes it’s all that takes to be the first step towards being happy.
He recalls the day he had come home from school, only to lock himself in a room for 28 hours. Parents were worried, they made him promise that he won’t hurt himself. Sumeddh Bilgi, a depression survivor takes us through those teenage years where it all started.
Growing up as an average Indian kid is not an easy task in itself. Sumeddh’s childhood was a particularly disturbed one. The best part about childhood for most of us is having that one close friend to share the giggles and pranks with. Sumeddh’s best friend passed away when he was eight years old. “Even as I turned 11, three years after his death, I still remembered him. The effects of him going away like that stayed.”
College too, a time we usually associate with a lot of thrill, adventure and freedom weren’t the same for him. He would take his bike during college days and go off to nowhere just to feel that emptiness sinking in his heart. “A numb feeling,” he says.
He now stands strong as a mental health activist who’s creating a safe space for people to have conversations about their thoughts and emotions, Sumeddh has had a long journey behind- one that he is now unafraid to share. The big take away here remains- take life one step at a time. Stars don’t shine without darkness and life doesn’t end at depression. It gets difficult there, but there is a tunnel outside, go find it!
