Shama Sikander recently took to her social media account to post a picture and on that, was a caption that read: ‘They: You are very Bold; Me: I am not afraid to show who I am . My vulnerabilities are my strengths, both are appreciated here. And so will be yours…” . The actor tells us that she takes the word “bold” as a compliment and does not limit its context to the appearance. “Being bold is not about the clothes you wear, but it’s so much more. It’s your courage to be able to come out and speak your heart out to people and not be afraid of their judgement,” she tells us on World Mental Health Day (October 10).
Looking back at the time when she was struggling with her mental health, Sikander shares how there were days when she wasn’t as bold as she is today. “I wasn’t able to show my myself. I never spoke like this. I always played very safe. But eventually, I started to appreciate my vulnerabilities,” she adds. For Sikander, this has been “one of my biggest achievements”. “To be able to come back from that is not easy at all,” she says.
While she has come a long way on the journey of healing, Sikander shares how there are times when the depression gets triggered. “Healing is a lifelong journey. And it’s fine because if nothing’s going to bother me, I will have nothing to heal again. And that is like the death of you in a way. So I haven’t healed completely. Triggers keep coming and I continue to battle them, but definitely my ideas, strength and understanding of fighting a battle has definitely changed. I have learned to train my mind to be happy. I have healed to a great extent. And still keep finding something or the other that needs to be worked upon. There are so many layered issues that we face as a human. However, there is no negative thought or feeling of suppression in me,” she explains.
And when the low point comes in her life, Shama says she tries to have more people to communicate with. “Making yourself totally aloof makes things worse. I have learned this from my experience and hence I let myself open up whenever there is a need. There are times when trust issues come in because of a couple of people have cheated me in the past, my friends have done bad things in life. But I have to keep reminding myself that everybody’s good. And that there’s no reason for them to harm me because I’m a very lovable person,” she ends.
