Sejal Sehmi's story:

Pain is unavoidable, but suffering is optional. Read the full story at https://sejalsehmi.com/l-is-for-me/. Here is an exert from Sejal's story.
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"I refused to admit to myself and others that I had become addicted in focusing on this one element in my life, as I was unknowingly convincing myself that in society’s eyes, I was failing in all other aspects. The only way to remove the feeling of heaviness whenever I felt low or out of my depth, could only be resolved by physically feeling lighter. The once driven and focused working girl, was now consistently clouded by the urge to hold on to this obsession. Comparisons to what others ate, wore, looked had become a daily and dangerously large part of my routine, which fuelled even more inner negativity.
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Vino and sleep were my new best friends and food was the foe. Everything and everyone else didn’t matter to me, because I naively convinced myself that I could manage my life in my way just as I have always done. My denial to accept what I was inflicting on myself had started damaging personal relationships with those who sincerely wanted to just hold my hand. For every plea to help me, where momentarily I felt I could snap out of this, an angry comment on how selfish and self-centred I was behaving was enough to simply push everyone away from me again. That was my only solution, to keep pushing and pushing where the damage with some relationships simply became irreversible. It didn’t matter, I thought, this was my issue and only I knew, or thought I knew how to keep above it.
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South Asian cultures pride themselves on family unity and acting as each other’s pillars in times of need. But the taboo of trying to be open and honest about such topics just added shame and guilt."