Mental Health

The people who become family
Raksha Bandhan is traditionally about siblings. But it also makes you think about the people who end up playing those roles in our lives, whether they were assigned them or not. The person who protects you.The one who shows up without judgement.The one who listens when you need them.The person you can call without having to explain yourself first. Festivals — and Instagram — can sometimes show us a very particular picture of family. Siblings who are close. Parents who get along. Everyone coming home, celebrating, laughing around a table.... Read more...
The relief of not going
There’s a very specific kind of happiness that no one talks about enough.Cancelling plans.Not avoiding plans. Not saying no upfront. But cancelling something you’d already said yes to.That exact moment — when you send the message.“Hey, can we do this another day?”And then.Relief.Immediate. Undeniable. Slightly suspicious relief.Your whole body relaxes. You didn’t realise how much you didn’t want to go until you weren’t going anymore.Suddenly the evening looks better. Your bed looks softer. Your home feels like a reward.We say yes when we mean maybe. Maybe when we mean not... Read more...
What replaced the phone calls
There was a time in my 20s when my first response to anything difficult was to pick up the phone.My sister. My best friend. Sometimes both, in the same evening.I didn’t think about it; it was just what I did. Something felt heavy, I called them.I’m 36 now. I still do it, but I find the right time. I wait for a moment when it feels okay to show up with my things.Because I started noticing how much the other person was already carrying.And without really deciding to, I began... Read more...
I really thought I’d have a yacht by now
In my early twenties, I had a very clear picture of my 30s.She was a CEO. Corner office, or close to it. The kind of woman who cooked fancy meals on weekends, you know the ones with asparagus and brussel sprouts? And checked her portfolio with the calm energy of someone who had it handled.She was, in the truest sense of the word, together.She also, occasionally, had access to a yacht. Details weren’t important.Last Tuesday I spent eleven minutes on that yacht daydream — the light, the water, the version... Read more...
I became a different person on this call
I was on a call. Professional, routine, nothing unusual on paper.And somewhere in the middle of it, something changed.The other person had a certain energy — confident, sure of themselves, the kind of presence that fills a room.And I just... shrunk.Not visibly. But internally, completely.What followed was familiar and annoying in equal parts. The quiet voice that says: they’re better than you. They’re more. You’re less.And before I could catch it, I was already someone else — trying to sound more certain than I felt, saying things slightly louder than... Read more...
what a delusional person
I am talking about myself.I left a well-paying job to start Project Ezza.If a tabloid got hold of that sentence, I already know the headline.Delusional IIM Graduate Throws Away Career For Matters of Feelings.Something that makes the whole thing sound like a very expensive mistake made by someone who didn’t think it through.And honestly? Some days I imagine people saying exactly this.And I write that headline myself.I’ve been reading a book that stopped me mid-page. It talks about how there are two ways to tell every story: the tabloid way,... Read more...
The person you can text “are you free?”
free?”By this stage of life, you realise it’s rarely a big group.It’s usually just one person.The one who knows your schedule without asking.Who you can text “are you free?” and they’ll know it’s not casual.Who has heard you go back and forth on the same decision, more than once, and still responds like it’s the first time.The one who lets you rant about work, about family, about things you can’t quite explain…and never makes you feel like you’re overreacting.Who doesn’t need you to be sorted, polished, or making sense.You can... Read more...
Maybe the jade roller isn’t the point
You know those Get Ready With Me reels where there’s a jade roller, a bubble headband, seventeen skincare products, and everything looks so calm and sorted?I used to watch those and feel quietly bad about myself. Like self-care was this whole thing I hadn’t figured out yet.I’ve been a little all over the place lately. Building Ezza has taken over a lot.I’ve lost track of what day it is more times than I can count. Eaten standing up, skipped things I said I wouldn’t skip, let my sleep become completely... Read more...
Apparently, you can feel both
This week I’ve found myself experiencing two completely different emotions at the same time.On one hand, life is full of happy occasions. There is a wedding in the family, the gatherings are full of colour, laughter, plans for the future, and moments that deserve to be celebrated.On the other hand, there are doctor visits, blood tests, scans, and the quiet (and sometimes very loud) worry that comes with watching your parents get older.Both realities are unfolding simultaneously.The celebrations don’t stop because you’re worried, and the worry doesn’t disappear because something... Read more...
Maybe you’re not stressed
Don’t you think some days your brain feels like it has 100 tabs open?By evening, I throw my hands up and say: “I’m stressed.”But recently I asked myself — was I really stressed?There wasn’t one urgent fire to fight.What I actually felt was that I couldn’t take in one more thing.That wasn’t stress.That was overwhelm.And naming it correctly changed everything.Stress would have pushed me to do more. Overwhelm told me I needed to pause. Read more...
It stopped being about the AirPod
I lost one of my AirPods recently. Just one. I spent nearly two-three hours looking for it. Properly searching. Retracing my steps. Checking the same places again and again, convinced I must have missed something. What surprised me wasn’t how long I searched — it was the disbelief. How is this possible? I’m usually careful. I remember these things. And at some point, the question quietly shifted from Where is it? to What’s wrong with me? That’s when I realised it wasn’t really about the AirPod anymore. After I finally... Read more...
Everyone thinks everyone else has it figured out
I’ve been talking to a lot of people this week.For hiring, for research, just to understand how people process their emotions so I could do better work.And without exception, everyone is in some version of figuring it out.Someone who moved countries for her family and is still finding her ground there.Someone who left a career she’d spent years building, not entirely sure what comes next.Someone who has a very stable career but isn’t sure what kind of life she imagines for herself.All of them. Still figuring.But the thing is —... Read more...
Tiny mood upgrades
This week, I had a really good cup of coffee.Not fancy-café good. Just sitting-on-my-own-sofa-with-a-coffee good.I’d just come home from the hospital after a health scare. Thankfully, everything was okay. (Also, I’m surprised by how much of adult life is just… health! But more on that later.)I made myself a cup and sat down.I think sometimes, after you’ve been anxious for a while, you notice the ordinary things coming back into your head.The coffee tastes nicer.You remember the Korean sheet mask you bought and want to try it.The arugula leaves in... Read more...
Somehow, I became the middleman
You love them both. They care about each other too.And somehow, sometimes, their relationship becomes your emotional responsibility.Maybe it’s your partner and your parents. Maybe it’s two siblings who don’t always see eye to eye. Or two friends who both tell you their side separately.You understand why one is hurt. You also understand why the other reacted that way.So you explain one to the other. Translate tone, intent and hurt. Leave out what doesn’t need repeating. Try to make sure nobody feels misunderstood.You tell yourself you’re doing it because you... Read more...
My wardrobe knows too much about me
There’s something about cleaning a wardrobe that’s never just about the clothes.It starts as a task, fold this, discard that, make some space. And somewhere along the way, it turns into something else entirely for me.Because my wardrobe isn’t really a wardrobe. It’s an unofficial museum of my entire personality.The “sentimental shelf” — things I can’t wear anymore but also cannot bring myself to give away.The “instant confidence” shelf — that one dress that makes me feel 20% more capable of handling my life, for reasons I’ve never fully understood.And... Read more...
My mom thought this was a great idea
A memory randomly and often comes back to me.I am nine years old. It is Christmas. Every other child is dressed as an angel or Santa.I am wearing a green satin onesie with decorative balls hanging off it.I am the Christmas tree.I remember actually being excited about this. The Christmas tree felt like the main character to me.Then I walked into that room and the execution failed terribly.I don’t remember the exact moment it turned, but I remember the feeling. That specific, sinking embarrassment of realising the vision in your... Read more...
The thing missing from my to-do list
Earlier this week I was angry.Genuinely, disproportionately angry, over something that wasn’t getting done, something too small to fully justify the reaction I had to it.I was snapping.And then, almost annoyingly on cue, I stumbled on this read: that every morning we decide what we want to achieve, but we rarely stop to think what kind of a person we want to be that day.I’d genuinely never thought about it this way before — a how having equal importance alongside a what.Because my mornings do have a list. Gym, yoga,... Read more...
Love doesn’t always look like love
Valentine’s Day comes with a script.Flowers. Dinner reservations. Big gestures. A very specific picture of what love should look like.And honestly, it works.But something didn’t sit right.Love, at least in real life, doesn’t always look like flowers and grand gestures.Sometimes love is driving someone to an early morning appointment without complaining.Sometimes it’s checking if they’ve eaten.Sometimes it’s giving space instead of demanding reassurance.Sometimes it’s staying.Sometimes it’s leaving when staying would hurt both of you.Sometimes it’s romantic. Sometimes it’s friendship. Sometimes it’s choosing yourself.It’s rarely just one day.And it’s almost never... Read more...
Why did that comment stay?
Something small happened recently.A family member casually compared me to my sister.It wasn’t harsh or dramatic; it was one of those typical lines we’ve all grown up hearing.They said it and moved on, but my mind didn’t.It replayed the moment while I was brushing, cooking, working, as if that single comment held some deeper truth.Meanwhile, the happy memories from the week stayed quiet.Isn’t it strange?The joyful memories need a trigger, but the uncomfortable ones show up on their own.A comparison, a tone, a small comment — these tiny things stay... Read more...
Maybe January doesn’t need a new you
This is that time of the year when your mind is doing two things at once.You’re looking back at the months gone by, while also quietly wondering what the next ones will look like.Some years follow the structure we set. Some quietly rewrite it.And most years sit somewhere in between, a mix of effort, surprises, tiredness, and learning.Yet this season has a way of nudging us into reinvention mode.We start thinking about what we should change in January, who we should become next, and how to do it better this... Read more...
Who are you quietly trying to impress?
I read something recently — “The quality of your life depends on who you’re trying to impress.”And I’ve been thinking about it ever since.We don’t always realise it, but so many of our choices are shaped by that.How we show up at work. Who we text back quickly. How we spend our weekends. What we say yes to, even when we’re tired.Some of us might be living to impress people we want validation from.Some, trying to impress the ones we subconsciously don’t want to disappoint.And some of us are simply... Read more...