About
Life is Beautiful. Life is Messy. Everything, absolutely everything ties into Mental Health. Our relationships with others, our relationship with ourselves, our environment, life experiences, health, finances, ideologies. The list goes on. I am not a Mental Health professional but I am someone who has always been vocal about social issues, standing up for the underdog, advocating love, vulnerability, empowerment, intersectionality. Human Connection to better the Human Condition.
I registered this website on December 27th, 2018 as a wedding anniversary gift to myself. The first anniversary without my husband Anand since he died by suicide. Anand had been encouraging me to start blogging for the longest time. It had taken me over a year and a half after registering to get started . I spent much of the time after Anand died processing what happened and working on personal self-development. Even now as I write this, I miss him. He would have been the first person to read what I’ve written.
As much as I am doing this for him, more importantly, I am doing this for me.
What’s there to hide when you’re just as human as the next person? Being an innately transparent and straightforward individual, I am grateful for the journey life has taken me through. Including some of the trials and tribulations. Shit happens, it’s unfair, it sucks, we make mistakes, we learn and there is nothing to be ashamed about. While I wish some things happened differently in my life, I cherish the people and experiences I have encountered on my path as a result. Suffice to say, I am proud as hell that I have faced life head-on, albeit oftentimes stumbling, yet resolute with my principles and integrity intact. Essentially, wearing my heart on my sleeve and to the best of my ability, staying true to myself.
From having grown up in a home where there was domestic abuse and violence, in a country where my mother had no family, I her eldest parentified child, stepped up as her main support system; to becoming a young widow by losing my husband to suicide, to everything else that happened in between; I sought and found ways to take my pain and empower myself and others. Whether it be by supporting loved ones by whatever means I could, especially in ways I wished I was supported or by volunteering and fundraising for various organizations and causes. A Youth Mentor at Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Montréal, Camp Counselor at South Asian Women’s Community Center of Montréal, Coordinator/Counselor at the WIN Home (Women’s) Shelter in Mumbai run by the Nuns of the Queen of Apostles order and the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention….just to name a few.
My hopes and intentions with the use of social media and this blog, apart from journaling my musings about life, is to create awareness and break down stigmas related to Mental Health and Society in general. It is my goal that this blog connects us and gives us hope and camaraderie; as I focus on my self-care and self-development by processing & navigating through my trauma, healing and grief journey.
Last but not least, to express gratitude for the beautiful people I am fortunate enough to call my family and friends, who are my blessing and greatest wealth.
We are all a work in progress. It’s okay to stumble. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to pause and rest, before you rise again.
Welcome to my story, I hope it resonates with yours, that you see we are all connected and that you’re not alone. Above all, I hope it gives you the courage to share your own story.
Much Love
Shalini
“It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.” – Iyanla Vanzant
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