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 .