Drop in this Sunday for a friendly Potluck
Author: umangadmin
Social media de-addiction through Counselling and Games
My first HCI meet was very productive
First of all, the name itself says a lot. I used to be scared about meeting new people because I was scared of groups.
Then I said, with a name like “Hugging Club of India”, how tough could it be? The name itself says “hugging”, that word itself shares a lot about the philosophy of people and intentions of people behind it. It’s very “dis-alarming”
I had been putting off the meet since a few months now, but the only constraint was the distance to the meeting location.
Finally, I dragged myself one Sunday and I went for the meet.
When I entered, I got a hug from Umang. Then we introduced ourselves and we were introduced to the counsellor at the Venue.
The topic of the day was social media addiction. Before we started the discussion, the counsellor asked us to deposit our phones and they took away our phones. This was really helpful as we could all really plug off our phones and we could focus on actually talking.
We all started sharing our experiences and viewpoints. We got hear about the same issue from multiple angles and then the counselor presented us with a clinical definition and throughout the meet, her attitude was very positive and everything she shared was very informative.
We had amazing, multiple courses of snack and tea.
There was a 20-minute session of games, which got stretched into 40 minutes.
At the end of it, the counsellor put a very potent point. None of us had phones during the entire 2-3 hour duration, yet we enjoyed talking to other people, most of who were strangers to us. Most of all – we played games with them. And that showed our social media addicted minds that there’s pleasure to be derived from interacting with people.
She has shared a couple of very important tips to help us gain our focus back after an elongated social browsing session and re-engage with the rest of the world with the help of PEACE and Mindfulness principles.
That was the greatest takeaway for me.
The venue was someone’s home, and it had awesome decor. The emphasis on customer service (despite it being a free event) was especially commendable.
Overall the session solidified a lot of principles for me that I had been practicing consciously and unconsciously.
I hope I made some friends too. The Hugging Club Of India #HCI
Experiencing the first meeting of the Hugging Club of India
Dear all,
My first HCI meet was an awesome experience. As it rightly says “its ok to be not always ok”, it was great to listen to others’ experiences and share your own without any inhibitions. Sometimes all it takes is to vent out your feelings to make yourself more relaxed and more confident.
Its all about our mindset and the company that we share our feelings with and I must say HCI is great platform for anyone who wants to be heard or just wants to be a calm listener. It serves both kinds of personalities.
Umang Sheth plays the perfect host and ensures no one is missed out during the meet from participation. Its hard to believe that in today’s world there are some selfless personalities who are ready to help the troubled souls. I would urge anyone who is battling with inner conscience or dilemma or be it anything to come out and speak up. You never know your story might inspire whom and you definitely never know whose one liner or one act of compassion might just make your problems seem less severe.
Three cheers to #HCI# God bless you #Umang! Step up guys, feel the fear and take action anyways! – ADITYA DAVE
“I am diagnosed as having bi-polar depression or manic depressive”
I am diagnosed as having bi-polar depression or manic depressive.
When I heard about the formation of a Hugging Club to help people like me, I was extremely happy. Especially because it was an initiative by a friend who I knew was warm, caring and helpful. I came to the first meet of the Hugging Club as I was curious about knowing how and what would happen in such a meet. We met at a cafe and I found everyone opening up easily. Since the atmosphere was very casual and relaxed, I too began voicing my journey, the impression I had of my mental illness, my successful work life and how the combination of stress and loneliness brought it back after a long gap. At the meet, I was very impressed by Yogesh who had risen above his suicidal tendency and sounded extremely confident and helpful.
I returned home, much lightened as it was for the first time ever that I had spoken about my illness in front of a group of strangers. As I often feel I will be misunderstood or wrongly judged, it was one of the toughest thing for me to do ever .
My mom is schizophrenic. And dad bipolar.
I was ashamed and embarrassed of my parents for almost 20 years. I used to compare them with other parents and feel sad and angry in the same breath. Oh! God! Why Me!
My mom used to prepare food and serve it to my dead aunt, who according to her, was staying in our attic. And what was more horrifying and equally embarrassing, she would call my late aunt’s husband and yell,”Your wife is in my attic, come and take her home.” At that moment, I just wanted to die.
If my dad earned 10k, he wanted to spend 20k. So during my entire childhood, instead of playing with me, he was gambling with friends at clubs. Episodes of my mom crying, dragging him out of clubs and creating a scene in the middle of the road… happened almost every week for nearly 15 years. I just hated him to the core.
However, something happened a few years back that changed my thinking. I forgave my parents and made peace with my past. Tarun, my well-wiser, said something very profound – Your mom didn’t choose schizophrenia. Schizophrenia chose your mom.