For years, I looked at my inability to find a measure of happiness to be my flaw, something fundamentally wrong with myself. After years searching aimlessly for some quick solution or cure, I learned to accept it and simply seek some support when it got too much. However we are not islands in the rolling seas of life but we are intimately connected to our friends and family and even passing acquaintances in ways we often don’t realize. Our ability to find success and contentment is entirely in our own hands but it can seem to be impossible to see a way out of our despair when our perspectives are skewed and our choices so dependent on the circumstances of our lives. It was only with a little guidance from Anoushka that I learned to see things from different viewpoints and consequently see choices I hadn’t been able to imagine before.

As much as sometimes we seem to be standing utterly alone and apart from everyone, we are in fact not alone at all. The actions of others affects us as much as ours affects them, and the realization and acceptance of this fact was my first step towards finding contentment and working towards something better in my life.

Writer, 27yrs