Live life : Your strength is greater than any storm : Recognise your potential

Live life : Your strength is greater than any storm : Recognise your potential

Today, the news of a teenager ending his life simply because his parent denied him a mobile phone flashed across the television screen and once again, I was shaken to the core. How fragile has life become under the crushing weight of expectations, isolation, and unspoken pain?

I have always been an incorrigible optimist. To me, life despite all its ups and downs is a gift,  a miracle. Among all living species, we humans are uniquely blessed. We not only have the ability to think, but also the profound capacity to feel,  to empathise, to connect, to reflect.

And yet, why are we seeing so many lives lost to  sheer hopelessness, something that should never have held as much power?

Life, by its very nature, is a mix of joy and sorrow, triumph and failure, calm and chaos. But should the first sign of struggle, rejection, or loss shake us so deeply that we choose to abandon the journey altogether? Even the wealthiest, the most brilliant, the most admired have not been devoid of hardship. None of us has had it easy. Every single person fights their own unseen battles.

So then, why are small setbacks like not getting a phone, not scoring high marks in exams, not being  successful in some  relationships becoming unbearable burdens for some?

This is not an isolated tragedy. Just two months ago, a reputed college postponed its examinations after three students died by suicide, and a fourth attempted to. What are we missing?

Is it the breakdown of honest communication?

The pressure-cooker expectations we place on ourselves and the young?

The endless comparisons served by social media?

The unrealistic lives portrayed in films and influencers reels?

Or is it the silence around mental health in our homes, our schools, and our society at large?

Have we forgotten how to simply talk, how to truly listen, and how to just be there?

Perhaps we must stop pushing our emotional struggles under the carpet. We must learn to be more open, share our  vulnerability. The pain which we hide, ignore and suppress perhaps start seeking an escape in the most tragic ways.

As parents, teachers, friends, and fellow human beings, we need to set examples not only about our achievements but also of togetherness, compassion, sacrifice, and resilience. Not silence but communication and connections can be our strength in relationships. 

Let us spread the awareness that suicide does not end pain but multiplies by passing it on to grieving parents, broken families, bewildered friends and an entire community left wondering why? 

That’s also the reason why it has become imperative  to reach out and ask, How are you? 

We need to make it normal for someone to say, I am not okay,  share their burden and ask for help.

We must remind ourselves and each other that no pain is insignificant, no life is ordinary, and no person is ever alone unless we let them be.

Let’s not wait for another headline, another loss, another moment of irreversible regret.

Let us open the door before it’s too late.

Let us choose communication over silence.

Let us stand united not in mourning but in prevention.

Let us stand against suicide, let us stand for life.

Because life, even with its imperfections, is still worth living as well as precious and so are you. 

If you ever feel overwhelmed, lost, or broken please reach out to me.

No judgment from me nor advice unless you ask for it but only an honest, listening heart.

So reach out to me, 

I am here for you always,  to support you in facing life, to be a part of each honest conversation every  time.

Email: vimshine@gmail.com

R. Vimala, IAS,

Resident Commissioner, Maharashtra,

Compassionate Civil Servant & PhD Scholar at IIT Bombay