How my personal style has changed after my mental health improved

Mental health has gained some recognition since the past few years, especially in India. The stigmas that were present around the term ‘Mental Health’ have been reduced and people have accepted the fact that people can be depressed, be anxious or have panic attacks without judging them. It is important that the people are sensitized toward the issue so that people dealing with such problems can come out in the open to talk safely about their feelings and thoughts.

With the increasing competition in today’s world, everybody seems to be running a never-ending race. I too became a part of this race unknowingly and the journey has not been easy. After getting admission in a management college, I was a bit anxious because I had to stay away from my family for 2 years and I had never been away from home for this long. My family members too were sceptical of how I am going to manage everything on my own. However, I had some confidence that I will get through it. But one thing that troubled me was the fact that I had been an introvert all my life. I opened up to people who were very close to me and took my own time to get around with strangers. Seeing 120 new faces all of a sudden and coming back home to a stranger too was going to be a task for me. I didn’t want to become the centre of attention at any point of time and always stayed subdued with my own circle of friends. To ensure that no one notices me as out of the crowd, I used to wear dark coloured clothes, nothing bright and shiny and dressed in a simple manner. I did not wear any big earrings and followed a minimalist approach.

But as time passed and as fate would have it, the friends I made were all extroverts and very outgoing who made friends easily. I would feel anxious around them because I was not like them and no matter how hard I tried; I would always run out of topics to talk about with anyone. And this was just the starting. Things got worse later and I soon avoided to be with my friends in a social gathering or nay sort of event. I then took therapy and my therapist actually recommended to push myself a bit harder, try a bit more to be comfortable in my own skin. I practiced this each time I had a chance to be at a social event and started to care less about what others might think.

I started wearing colours which I had never worn and experimented with a lot of things in my wardrobe. I wore a huge set of earrings for an event at college for a whole day and although people were noticing me, I had less care to give because I just wanted to be okay with that. I started dressing up more often, even for regular college days. The feedback that I got was an assurance that I was doing the right thing. Dressing up made me more confident and helped in my growth as a person. I felt happy while choosing accessories for my outfit, what footwear I was going to wear to what lip colour I was going to use.

And as usual, I fell into a dilemma while choosing all this stuff without burning a whole in my pocket. As I scrolled through endless websites, I was not able to efficiently compare the products without eating up my time which I wanted to devote to my assignments at college. It was only when I was trying to find a solution to this, one of my close friends recommended me Xerve. She told me how I could compare any product on it and even earn cashbacks and promotional offers and coupons on my shopping. My journey through this emotional roller coaster has been an interesting one and now there is only going up from here!