Determination to reach goal

Pragya Shrestha

Every day as we go through the news or social media, we seem to be hearing a lot about the repugnant effect of the pandemic. However, here I would like to share a story of a client that I have had the privilege to assist. I am astonished by how much I am inspired by the progression and what I could do to bring changes in attitude of my clients. This particular client is a student who came very far to get his education and was stranded in his rental home due to lockdown.

During his assessment, he reported having anxiety about the future and whether he would be employed or not. What would happen if he did not get appropriate job even after his studies? He was also playing around with the idea of starting a business. Most of the symptoms he was reporting seem to have been triggered by unfortunate situation the world is in right now. Because of his restlessness, he had been distracting himself with overuse of Facebook (more than 4 hours at a time each day). This temporary fix did not help in the unhappiness and worthlessness he was experiencing in his life. He was ignoring his health and felt so lethargic that he did not want to do anything.

I listened to him empathetically and normalized his feeling in this situation. We explored his strengths as coping strategies and identified people with whom he could share his feelings. The sudden change in lifestyle due to the lockdown had hampered his daily routines as well. So, we agreed on daily schedules which could help him to keep self-busy; and discussed over coping strategies that he could apply whenever he experiences re-emergence of the symptoms. We also discussed on how to minimize the use of Facebook.

In the follow up session, after a week of our session, he confided that he had embarked upon the journey of travelling back to his hometown by foot. He had left for his destination a day before in the morning and had competed his 16 hours long walk home. During our conversation, he had two more hours to reach his hometown. When I asked about his motivation for the travel, he mentioned that he was very concerned about his elderly parent’s situation. He is now with his parents helping them in agriculture. I was surprised and at the same time concerned, when I heard he was helping in agriculture as he had finally found the motivation to get active from his lethargic self. I was concerned because he had mentioned that his legs were swollen due to the long walk. I am curious to know in our next follow up session whether he has been taking care of his health. I was inspired by the way how he took his mental health seriously and instead of sitting idle decided to do something about it and made sure he was active and on a path to a healthier life.