In a society run by extroverts, it can be a challenge sailing through life as an introvert. Introverts tend to be labeled as anti-social just because they enjoy time to themselves more. They’re constantly referred to as party poopers and whatnot just because they’re the ones that wanna go home early. It sucks to feel misunderstood, and that’s something introverts have unfortunately gotten used to today.
We at One More Light had a chance to speak with Himanshu, one of our users who is an introvert, and hear his story. Here are his answers to the following questions:
What is your personal story of struggling with emotional wellness in the past or present? Could you tell us how tough it was and what kind of support you had?
I was born introverted, and growing up as an introverted child in an extroverted society is indeed a big struggle. People around me were not aware of the concept of introversion and extroversion. And this resulted in people misinterpreting my introversion with mindlessness. As a child, I was not aware of all this. And it was evident in my thought process. I started to believe that I am not as smart as the people around me. The great Buddha once said, “What you think, you become.” That belief ended up reflected my personality. Almost every person I meet was directly or indirectly showing me that I am a big loser and can’t achieve anything in life.
I used to cry alone, I was very frustrated that I even thought to end my life multiple times, but thankfully managed to stop myself from doing something like that. Almost every person I meet was directly or indirectly telling me that I was a big loser who could not achieve anything in life. I used to cry alone. I was very frustrated, so much that I even considered ending my life multiple times. But thankfully, I managed to stop myself from doing something like that. And the worst thing is, I never shared anything with anyone. Even the people around me are still not aware of my emotional struggle. And in fact, this is the first time I am sharing my story with the world, thanks to One More Light.
What helped me to come out of this emotional struggle is the knowledge of introversion and extroversion, emotional health, psychology, and the knowledge of myself and my capabilities. In fact, my lack of knowledge about introversion was the origin of the problem. At the age of 17, I received access to the internet. This was the turning point for me. I understood that I am not a fool and that I am just an introvert. But I was still unhappy with being an introvert because it kind of ruined my whole childhood. But with time, and with more knowledge, I started to accept my introversion.
And eventually, a better understanding of introversion changed my hate for introversion into a love for it. This change happened very recently in my life at the age of 20 (I am 20 right now).
At this point in my life, I believe introversion is the best gift nature could’ve given me.
What do you use the One More Light app for? Tell us about the motivation behind it and how you help people on the app.
In my own emotional struggle, the one thing that I always needed is a good listener with whom I can share anything without hesitation. A listener who would never judge me and understand my struggles. But, I never found anyone. I feel for those who don’t have access to a good listener, and that motivated me to be a listener on the One More Light app. I believe having a good listener can minimize more than half of people’s emotional health struggles. And the One More Light app is an amazing platform for people to find emotional relief.
What would you say to those learning about your experience, to help them understand the importance of emotional health?
Emotional health is as important as physical health. Having a hard time emotionally not only negatively impacts you, but it also affects your loved ones. It directly affects your emotions, and emotions are contagious. Your bad mood will automatically influence the mood of the people around you, which only contributes to further relationship issues. Such issues affect your emotional health, and the cycle repeats. Emotional health not only affects your relationships, but it affects practically every aspect of your life.
Ignoring emotional health can ruin you and your loved one’s life. Despite having everything in life, if you don’t have good emotionalhealth, you will struggle to enjoy life. All the positive things in life and poor emotional health are inversely related. You can only have one in both, and the choice is yours.
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