Depression is a state that can affect anybody, regardless of your financial standing and regardless of what you have : Samridhii Shukla

Known for her performance in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, actress Samridhii Shukla opens up about her views on mental health and how she personally relates to the subject of depression. Speaking from her own experiences, Samridhii shares,
“I consider myself really fortunate. Actually all of us; to be living in such times where the emphasis is not just on hustling, not just on your physical aesthetics and your physicality and fitness of your body, but also of the mind. Lately, mental health has become a very openly discussed matter, and people are comfortable enough to say that they want to go for therapy. It’s not looked down upon or spoken of in a very hush-hush tone, which is a great progression that has come to mental health. Mental health is a fundamental part of our overall well-being of course, because you can have the best of the best life. You can have everything you ever wanted, everything you ever wished for; you can have the best career, a comfortable amount of money, all your friends, family, everybody. But that doesn’t mean that you will also be of a fit mind. Depression is a state that can affect anybody, regardless of your financial standing and regardless of whatever you have or you don’t have the lack thereof.”

She explains her point of view further, “I think I was also going through, I don’t know if I can say depression, but I was going through a phase where I really struggled because I wanted to live a life where I could do everything. We all know doing a daily soap takes a lot of time out of your life, so there’s not much time left to do. I do miss out a lot of recreational or social activities that I wanted to be a part of. That was a phase where I felt like I didn’t have time to do anything else. But with so much extra thought, I had to understand and thankfully, my friend helped me understand that if you’re living an extraordinary life, you cannot think of ordinary things. You have to let go of certain things, which also come under your discipline and sacrifice. If you have this beautiful career, you have to give it time. If you have this beautiful opportunity, you have to find happiness in it; you have to be here and be present. There will eventually be time for all the other things you want to do, but you cannot do them while you’re here. And that thought process gave me a lot of peace and perspective.”

Samridhii shares she has no qualms on discussing her mental well-being with others. “As I’ve mentioned, I myself went through the darkest of the dark thoughts, and my mind was not a pretty place to be in. But I think gratitude and perspective and just focusing on the present, along with breathing techniques helps a lot. I think a huge role in this is played by books and the endless amount of good podcasts and informative videos that tell you how to deal with all these things. And also, because of the Internet, you realize that you’re not the only one who’s feeling this way.”

Samridhii shares what actually can change her mood and mental well-being. She says, “I think there are just days where I just feel very overwhelmed. And sometimes it is something that I cannot explain. But there are times when I just feel so lost, and I just feel so lonely. And it could be because I’m always on set, I’m surrounded by so many people, but I feel so alone. I feel alone with my thoughts. And sometimes your mind is the darkest place that you can be in, and it is crucial to bring yourself out of that space. But not to deny that I don’t go there often, of course I do. I have my days, I have my bad days. And sometimes, when you’re already having a bad day, even a small thing happening can just trigger you. And that has happened to me. I’ve gotten really overwhelmed.”

She adds, “Family, friends, society—everyone plays a huge role in your mental well-being. In making a person feel less alone, less lonely, more like they have somebody to bank on. You hear about so many people, mostly young people who battle depression for the longest time and then, unfortunately, take their own lives. I just feel like I wish they had a safe space with some people. Like, I wish they had one or two people—it could be a parent, a friend, a boyfriend, a companion, anybody—one person in the whole world to whom they could say whatever it is that comes to their mind. And I’m sure anybody who loves and cares for you, if you tell them you have these suicidal or dark thoughts, they would stop you. They would shift your thoughts, and they would compel you not to do so.”

So what practical steps do you think could help make this happen in your community or peer group? “I think, on a daily routine, I have this sort of activity with one of my friends who’s very wise in matters of mental fitness. Whenever we meet each other, we always ask each other about our day. And we’re just like, ‘Okay, and how are you feeling? From a scale of 1 to 10?’ And sometimes we don’t even give that thought when we’re by ourselves—we don’t. But when someone asks us this, we are forced to revisit our day and go through our whole schedule and understand that. And that’s how you bring things into perspective and acknowledge them. Firstly, I think to battle anything or to come out of a rut is to acknowledge it—to say, ‘This is happening to me.’ So that’s a very nice activity that practically anybody can do anywhere. And it is healthy. I’m very fortunate to have all these sorts of friends who don’t get offended when I cancel at the last minute because sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. Sometimes, at the last moment, I just don’t want to meet anybody. Because sometimes we just do things out of obligation but nobody should feel like they have to do things out of obligation. We should do them because we want to do them.”Depression is a state that can affect anybody, regardless of your financial standing and regardless of what you have : Samridhii Shukla

Known for her performance in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, actress Samridhii Shukla opens up about her views on mental health and how she personally relates to the subject of depression. Speaking from her own experiences, Samridhii shares,
“I consider myself really fortunate. Actually all of us; to be living in such times where the emphasis is not just on hustling, not just on your physical aesthetics and your physicality and fitness of your body, but also of the mind. Lately, mental health has become a very openly discussed matter, and people are comfortable enough to say that they want to go for therapy. It’s not looked down upon or spoken of in a very hush-hush tone, which is a great progression that has come to mental health. Mental health is a fundamental part of our overall well-being of course, because you can have the best of the best life. You can have everything you ever wanted, everything you ever wished for; you can have the best career, a comfortable amount of money, all your friends, family, everybody. But that doesn’t mean that you will also be of a fit mind. Depression is a state that can affect anybody, regardless of your financial standing and regardless of whatever you have or you don’t have the lack thereof.”

She explains her point of view further, “I think I was also going through, I don’t know if I can say depression, but I was going through a phase where I really struggled because I wanted to live a life where I could do everything. We all know doing a daily soap takes a lot of time out of your life, so there’s not much time left to do. I do miss out a lot of recreational or social activities that I wanted to be a part of. That was a phase where I felt like I didn’t have time to do anything else. But with so much extra thought, I had to understand and thankfully, my friend helped me understand that if you’re living an extraordinary life, you cannot think of ordinary things. You have to let go of certain things, which also come under your discipline and sacrifice. If you have this beautiful career, you have to give it time. If you have this beautiful opportunity, you have to find happiness in it; you have to be here and be present. There will eventually be time for all the other things you want to do, but you cannot do them while you’re here. And that thought process gave me a lot of peace and perspective.”

Samridhii shares she has no qualms on discussing her mental well-being with others. “As I’ve mentioned, I myself went through the darkest of the dark thoughts, and my mind was not a pretty place to be in. But I think gratitude and perspective and just focusing on the present, along with breathing techniques helps a lot. I think a huge role in this is played by books and the endless amount of good podcasts and informative videos that tell you how to deal with all these things. And also, because of the Internet, you realize that you’re not the only one who’s feeling this way.”

Samridhii shares what actually can change her mood and mental well-being. She says, “I think there are just days where I just feel very overwhelmed. And sometimes it is something that I cannot explain. But there are times when I just feel so lost, and I just feel so lonely. And it could be because I’m always on set, I’m surrounded by so many people, but I feel so alone. I feel alone with my thoughts. And sometimes your mind is the darkest place that you can be in, and it is crucial to bring yourself out of that space. But not to deny that I don’t go there often, of course I do. I have my days, I have my bad days. And sometimes, when you’re already having a bad day, even a small thing happening can just trigger you. And that has happened to me. I’ve gotten really overwhelmed.”

She adds, “Family, friends, society—everyone plays a huge role in your mental well-being. In making a person feel less alone, less lonely, more like they have somebody to bank on. You hear about so many people, mostly young people who battle depression for the longest time and then, unfortunately, take their own lives. I just feel like I wish they had a safe space with some people. Like, I wish they had one or two people—it could be a parent, a friend, a boyfriend, a companion, anybody—one person in the whole world to whom they could say whatever it is that comes to their mind. And I’m sure anybody who loves and cares for you, if you tell them you have these suicidal or dark thoughts, they would stop you. They would shift your thoughts, and they would compel you not to do so.”

So what practical steps do you think could help make this happen in your community or peer group? “I think, on a daily routine, I have this sort of activity with one of my friends who’s very wise in matters of mental fitness. Whenever we meet each other, we always ask each other about our day. And we’re just like, ‘Okay, and how are you feeling? From a scale of 1 to 10?’ And sometimes we don’t even give that thought when we’re by ourselves—we don’t. But when someone asks us this, we are forced to revisit our day and go through our whole schedule and understand that. And that’s how you bring things into perspective and acknowledge them. Firstly, I think to battle anything or to come out of a rut is to acknowledge it—to say, ‘This is happening to me.’ So that’s a very nice activity that practically anybody can do anywhere. And it is healthy. I’m very fortunate to have all these sorts of friends who don’t get offended when I cancel at the last minute because sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. Sometimes, at the last moment, I just don’t want to meet anybody. Because sometimes we just do things out of obligation but nobody should feel like they have to do things out of obligation. We should do them because we want to do them.”