Grow Through What You Go Through: Madhura Damle and Prajakta Vaishampayan

Positive psychology is a field that talks about developing positive aspects of life and developing our strengths for a happy and healthy life. In a nutshell, positive psychology is about ‘looking at the brighter side’ or ‘looking at the glass of water as half full.’ Today, we are talking about those who took this idea and thought of bringing a change into people’s lives. ‘Unlearn. Relearn’ is an initiative started by these two ladies ‘Ms. Madhura Damle & Ms. Prajakta Vaishampayan’ intends to spread awareness about the positive aspects of life through the lens of psychology. 

‘A healthy body needs a healthy mind’ this saying perfectly portrays the definition of what robust health stands for. The definition of health is highly focused on physical health and significantly less focused on mental health, but it is equally significant, and one must focus on it. 

Until recently, mental health was overlooked entirely, and very few knew its importance, but gradually it is more focused since people are becoming aware of it. ‘Awareness is a factor that plays the most crucial role here’ just by knowing what exactly it is and what the psychologists do, one can get rid of the stigmas and false beliefs about mental health. ‘NO, IT’S NOT ABOUT ACTING CRAZY, NOR IT IS ABOUT SOME SERIOUS DISORDERS! IT INCLUDES MUCH MORE THAN THIS 

The fragments are misunderstood as the whole, and therefore it is difficult to accept just by the person facing mental health issues. Mental health issues aren’t just disorders. It ranges from stresses from our daily life, stage fear, fear of certain animals or things, exam anxiety, etc., to major psychological disorders. Similarly, psychology is not simply about studying mental health to find cures for these significant disorders. Still, it is also to find a solution to the minor daily hassles, and more importantly, it tells you how to develop a healthy lifestyle. As the saying goes, ‘Prevention Is Better Than Cure.’ 

Coming from the field of psychology, Madhura and Prajakta always had this concern for mental health awareness. The lack of its awareness is the stigma that still prevails in this society about mental health. Also, awareness is not just simply knowing about the disorder. But it also includes knowing when to seek professional help and that it is independent of your education and socioeconomic status.

For Madhura, the passion for psychology sprouted in them during their school days when she came across an article by Dr. Anand Nadkarni, which significantly influenced her. Whereas, Prajakta sees psychology as a way of attaining peace from within for self and also to help others attain the same. 

Spreading awareness being the primary focus, during the initial days, they began with content writing and creating posts that could reflect the aspects of positive psychology profoundly and creatively. Later, under the ‘Unlearn. Relearn’s initiative began conducting workshops on distinct topics for both children and adults. The purpose behind this was to put forward the concepts of psychology, which are usually untouched.

The themes of these workshops included empathy, inferiority/superiority complex, self-esteem, happiness, etc., for children. In contrast, some unique workshops for adults, such as ‘Theherao,’ emphasized the beauty of the ‘pause or stillness.’

The Bedrock

The pandemic had an enormous impact on everyone. However, not every impact was negative. As the saying goes, ‘If life gives you lemons, make a lemonade.’ Some people did the same. With this ample amount of time offered by the lockdown out of the blue, Madhura & Prajakta decided to do something that would be an excellent way to portray their field and express themselves. What better platform could be other than social media. And thus, the first stone was all set to be fixed as creating a social media handle.

The name: ‘Unlearn. Relearn’

For every idea to be established, it has to be titled first. It was the same in their case too. Though the idea of creating a social media account had popped into their productive brains, it was yet to be named. Both of them say that since the cognitive model of psychology influenced them, their views about learning, unlearning, and relearning were extreme and profound.

That’s when they came across a book, ‘Mentalligence’ by Dr. Kristen Lee, in which she has talked a lot about this concept of unlearning. While reading that book, this name struck into their minds. That’s how the name ‘Unlearn. Relearn’ came into being.

Why a deaf ear to mental health?

Despite how important mental health is, people are still avoidant and often pay no heed to it. A prominent reason for this, according to Madhura and Prajakta, is the social stigma about mental illness. It’s not that people don’t know any of it. They do know about major mental health issues.

But what they don’t do is don’t take any serious measures. Ideally, seeking professional help is what one should do, independent of their education or socioeconomic status. However, one is scared of going to a psychologist or counselor as one may be labeled as crazy. But as a matter of fact, it’s not at all that way. Whenever we have a fever or any other diseases such as malaria, typhoid, cold, etc., we go to the doctor to take treatment for it. Visiting a therapist is no different from this, says Madhura and Prajakta.

Disclosure

Speaking of mental health, as a proven fact, every individual on earth has some of the other mental health issues at a certain point in life. 

To Madhura, the thing that bothered her was the inferiority complex she faced during her school days. While in Prajakta’s case, she faced exam anxiety to an extreme level. However, both reached out to the therapists, and they merrily said that they took the right call and sought professional help.

Unlearning & its importance in life

We come across many situations almost daily in our lives, such as getting late for the office, stuck in traffic, getting into trouble due to anger, etc. We sometimes know that these situations are giving us a tough time, but we cannot do anything about it because we are too caught up with what we’ve learned. Our fixed behavioral or thinking patterns are usually the root cause for us in trouble, but we can’t help it and continue with the same. The solution to this is pretty simple.

The faulty patterns need to be unlearned, and thus by unlearning, we can get rid of those faulty thinking or behavioral patterns, which could improve our lives. ‘Unlearning and relearning go hand in hand. We need to unlearn a few things to relearn them, just as we need to clean a blackboard before we could write something new on it.’ says team ‘Unlearn. Relearn’.

Crucial steps that one needs to keep in mind

The internet has made it possible to find almost anything. It is the same when it comes to diseases and disorders. Nevertheless, not everything you come across has to be true in your case. 

Hence, the most crucial steps one should keep in mind are:

1. Never trust the information blindly about the disorders. Reading might be a symptom of some more significant problem, but if you are experiencing a symptom doesn’t mean that you will be diagnosed with that disorder.
2. Try identifying the pattern of your concern. Is the concern time-specific? Any dominating emotion you’ve been experiencing? Any thought that is on loop? Are all these things taking a toll on your personal life?
3. We are seeking Professional Help. Won’t you ever let google treat your malaria, right? It’s the same with mental health disorders.

Inspirations of Madhura Damle and Prajakta Vaishampayan

When inquired about any inspirations or someone you look up to, they stated that ‘While working alongside other professionals, we realized that each of them has their unique approach towards their work. It is what made us think about exploring the field further and developing our unique style.

Besides, many approaches in psychology, such as The Rational approach by Albert Ellis and the Cognitive approach by Albert Ellis & Aron Beck, Expressive approaches such as Art therapy, humanistic approaches, etc., have a vital role in shaping our minds. Especially the concepts from positive psychology like flow, resilience, mindfulness, gratitude, etc., have been a source of inspiration for the long run.

Activities by Unlearn. Relearn

We offer various workshops for children as well as for adults. When it is specifically about children, the main focus is on simplicity and creativity. We strongly believe that the children will enjoy it if the coating is alluring. Therefore, we include stories, images, fun videos, etc., in our sessions. Generally, these sessions begin with an energizer that helps the children be comfortable with us and enjoy the session.

Also, we’ve discovered that when stories or concepts like ‘wheel of emotions,’ etc., are used, the children open up more and connect with us. Creating and giving the children a non-judgmental and playful space is what we aim for.

Being well is not the only aspect of Well-Being.

‘For a flower to grow beautifully, not just protecting it from certain organisms is important, but also it is equally important to water it regularly and nurture it.’

Mental health is often misjudged as an aspect that looks up to mental disorders and nothing else. However, this is not the case. Although disorders are an essential facet of mental health, they aren’t the only facet. An absence of the disorder doesn’t mean mental well-being. 

Mental well-being is also about nurturing yourself with positive thoughts, experiencing positive emotions, living a fulfilling life, feeling content, etc. As the saying goes, ‘Prevention is better than cure’ we phrase it as, ‘Focusing on well-being is more important than being well. 

Therefore, we focus more on the wellness model.

Tips for Well-being

These are some tips that could come in handy:

• Identify the reason for unhappiness.
• Deal with that reason
• Learn to navigate your thoughts
• Identify the things that you love.
• Find the obstacles and deal with them.
• Write your goals in a precise manner and internalize them.
• Believe in yourself
• Trust your intuitions
• Take responsibility for your journey.

Relearn’s agendas for the future. These aspiring psychologists intend to go further deep into the psychology and pursue research, enhancing their knowledge and understanding about various aspects of life. 

Under the Unlearn. Relearn, they intend to provide diagnostic services and also introduce their counseling services with a holistic approach. They plan to collaborate with doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, etc., to promote the ‘Biopsychosocial model.’ 

When asked about a message for our readers, both the beautiful psychologists said, ‘Grow Through, What You Go Through.’ Belief is the essential aspect of our life, so believe In your dreams and start taking action. Overthinking won’t take you anywhere. Prioritize your mental health and also help others do the same. 

Mental health may be the most ignored or a topic taken lightly for now. Regardless, its importance cannot be lessened by ignoring it. The mental health of each one of us is in our own hands. Even a daily stressor can be a big fudge if not taken care of when you have time. These minor stressors, anxieties, fears, etc., are those minor aspects of life that have the potential of disturbing our life to a great extent.

Therefore looking after our mental health is as important as looking after our physical health. Take care of your mental health and also of your loved ones. Maybe they are unaware of it, but now you are not. 

As they say, ‘Well-Being is more important than Being Well!’

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