Lilly, a 38-year-old research scholar, is an enthusiastic and bright individual. She’s always thrived in the field of academics, as it’s been her biggest passion for as long as she can remember.
Spirited and passionate, Lilly truly is full of life. She has been driven by her work and confesses that she eats, sleeps, and drinks it.
“I had an amazing childhood experience while I was growing up. I come from a very loving family and it is the values that they taught me that I continue to live by.”
“When I began my research for my Ph.D., I was assigned a mentor who did not treat me well. I was gaslighted and made to feel like I was good for nothing.”
Being an excellent student all your life shows dedication, perseverance, and commitment. It means having an everlasting thirst for knowledge and learning from your mistakes.
These are qualities that Lilly has had throughout her academic journey. However, things took a very different turn once she began her research. She had a lot of trouble with her mentor and it completely threw her off balance.
Lilly mentions that the stress she encountered was so intense that it manifested itself through physical illness. She would fall sick very often and experience severe acidity problems.
Mentoring is about sharing the burden and one’s experience to help others make the greatest use of their talents and enjoy the process of growth. Having a mentor who does not foster this process of growth can be extremely disappointing and demoralizing to an extent.
Lilly knew that the problem was not with her. She realized that she could not control the things that were happening to her but she could manage her reactions.
“I knew I had no control over the situation or how the other person was behaving. I wanted to understand how to deal with all of it and so I decided to try counseling.”
Lilly was completely open to the idea of counseling right from the beginning. She heard that her institute had a partnership with YourDOST and decided to begin her journey of healing with her therapist, Dr. Sumathi.
“Dr. Sumathi is an extremely warm person who has truly gone out of her way to support me. She is truly like a motherly figure to me.”
Lilly has been consulting Dr. Sumathi for quite some time now and has seen a number of positive changes. For instance, she feels a lot more mentally stable and at peace with herself.
Dr. Sumathi gave Lilly a number of strategies to help manage her emotions better. She started using a mood tracker where she would journal her daily moods and the reasons behind them. Lilly found this extremely helpful as it gave her awareness of what situations were affecting her in specific ways, which let her choose how she wanted to deal with them.
Lilly mentions that this technique also helped her understand her emotions better and relieve herself of feelings that seem to be too heavy for her to carry on her own.
After having been through such a bumpy road, Lilly decided she wants to make sure that students never have to go through the same difficulties as her.
“I am going to make sure I’m in touch with the student community so that they never have to go through what I went through.”
It is with the help of her therapist that Lilly has become a more resilient, passionate version of herself. She felt extremely comfortable expressing herself to her counselor and found that she never ever failed to receive support from her.
“I’m extremely grateful to Dr. Sumathi for creating such a safe, non-judgmental space for me to share my feelings. I feel a lot stronger now after having started counseling.”
Maya Angelou once said “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
This quote captures the very essence of the dedication and resilience that Lilly possesses. She has come out of this situation stronger than ever before and is an inspiration to all of us who have big dreams for ourselves.
Lilly’s Warrior Tips:
1.”Protect yourself at all costs in this world. Don’t let others get in your way of achieving something you’ve dreamed about.”
2.“Believe in yourself and your abilities. You’re stronger than you think!”
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