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In this weekly self-help series, mental health and life coach Anu Krishna tells you how to take control of your life.
Is your relationship causing you stress?
Are you feeling lonely, helpless, indecisive?
You are not alone!
Mind/life coach, NLP trainer and mental health guru Anu Krishna wants you to talk about your problems.
Every week, Anu will answer your queries, address your concerns and offer expert advice on how you can take control of your life.
Dear readers, if you have a question for Anu, please e-mail it to getahead@rediff.co.in (Subject: Ask ANU) for her advice.
Meanwhile, here's the unedited excerpt from Anu's latest offline session with readers:
NK: Hey Anu ji I hope you are doing well.
I am a 27-year-old woman, not married but engaged. I am a doctor by profession and we met through our parents. He is a pediatrician. I’m just MBBS. He is 33 and was damn good. Since the last few months there has been a sudden change in his behaviour and we have been fighting since then.
We knew each other since a year and moved in together last October.
I left my government job so that I could pursue my specialisation. I couldn't score a good rank due to which I couldn’t get admission.
My parents are not rich enough for me to apply in a private college. He always abuses my parents saying they are not rich enough.
He compares everything and has started talking to another specialist, a single woman.
I am handling all house chores -- from laundry to cleaning, even emptying dustbin and making his cup of tea.
He doesn't do anything except sleep, eat and work which is not so hectic because he is at a senior position.
Is it right that we are having sex 2-3 times per day from so many months?
Whenever I want to talk about something he asks for sex. If I say 'I need your attention and love' he gets grumpy and says 'you are always complaining.'
Since this is my first relationship, I am comprising a lot. He didn't even remember our first anniversary or the day we met.
In fact he stops talking to me since a month. He doesn’t pick up my calls or sees my messages.
I have to call a third person to convey my message to at least pick up a call.
Please help.
I’m too stressed and even thought of committing suicide because I love him. But he doesn't love me from the last 3-4 months.
I never get answers to my questions. He is like ‘I don't want to talk.’
He has become so egoistic and is behaving like a male chauvinist.
I have to prepare for my exam too. Because of all this stress I have started having panic attacks and anxiety.
I love him a lot but I can't stay in this relationship more. I can't bear the brunt. Only one-sided efforts are there from my side.
He stopped making any efforts to reconcile or talk.
I am an old school person. I lost my virginity to him but now I regret. Who will marry me knowing that I’m not a virgin anymore? Plzz help me
Dear NK,
When a partner does not validate your feelings and uses sex as a means to deflect from the problem, it’s a red flag, right?
So, what exactly do you get by being with him? Love cannot be a means to sell your very existence no matter who that is.
Call out such behaviour. Compromises do not form part of any relationship, contrary to what’s told to us.
Mutual understanding and gentle acceptance and most importantly loving compassion is what any relationship is all about.
When those efforts of yours are not being met with love and instead it has been ignored, what else are you going to do?
Not being able to respect a partner’s family and instead insulting them to feel better or prove a point, how do you think it is going to be in the future?
Do you see these red flags or are you simply choosing to close your eyes and pretend that everything is fine?
Do the right thing, for yourself and your being and welfare. Be strong like the way that you always have been.
My best wishes to you!
AS: Don’t name me please
Hello Anu ma'am, love your work.
I am attracted to women and have never shared this with anyone else. I have fallen head over heels to my best friend for more than 5 years now. But I have never able to express. She always gave me a lot of hints that she likes me and I think she kinda knows that I like her. But a few days ago she revealed that her sexual orientation is straight. However she always acts/behaves with me like she is more than a friend. She says that I am more than a friend and also expresses how she wants to live her life with me, but never confesses that she likes me. Is she afraid?
How do I deal with this? What should be the approach?
Please respond
Sincerely waiting for your reply!
Thank you in advance, have a nice day.
Dear AS,
Thank you for your kind words on the work that I do.
You might be correct in assessing your sexual orientation, but your friend is still confused about it.
Give her some time to get past the confusions else what might happen is that she will give in to your advances and since both of you share a great relationship, she might be inclined to believe that she is into women.
Allow her to figure out her sexual orientation and where she leans more into…Support her through her journey and when she finally decides, respect her decision whatever that maybe.
Yes, it’s highly possible that she is afraid given that society and the world doesn’t accept what’s called ‘not normal’ by their standards.
The judgement from families and friends and their non-acceptance is also something that she might not be willing to compromise on.
That is why, give her time to process all of this and then choose what’s best for her.
Till then, you can focus on yourself and living life every moment.
I don’t know how old you are but pay attention to your career or academics or whatever that will help you create a wonderful future and most importantly, be happy with what is.
All the best!
V: Hi Anu, Please keep this anonymous.
I'm a 26-year-old female working in a well-paying corporate job for past 3 years now.
This is my first job since college and I'm feeling very saturated and burned out in this job.
My work profile here is quite distinct and I've tried switching to other companies but have been receiving either rejections or no response from them.
I feel so tired and demotivated with the work that it's affecting my performance.
Owing to unhealthy lifestyle and lack of work life balance I got diagnosed with PCOS.
I'm very much interested in psychology and feel like switching my career to another track altogether.
My family is supportive but I don't know where I am headed from a career point of view.
I have been contemplating putting down my papers for months now but I feel so aimless, lost and confused. Could you please guide and advise me?
Thanks a lot in advance.
Dear V,
Whatever be the age, a switch in careers is something that one should consider if it’s the passion within that drives you.
Do not switch just because you are tired and dejected from all the rejections.
Is there anything that you must do as a value-add to enhance your profile? Maybe a learning course or something that will help your profile stand out?
Also, you can engage with a Career Coach (please read their reviews online before you engage with any of them) who can guide you appropriately on the direction that you can take.
Regarding Psychology, use your weekends reading about it and taking a few Master Classes in various fields and then think if it really excites you.
It’s a vast field and you require certain qualifications to be able to pursue a career in it. So, weekends can offer you some time to reflect on it as you attend workshops and seminars on this.
PCOS is a condition attributing itself to lifestyle and stress related contexts over a period of time.
Exercise, stopping refined processed foods and meditation have helped with PCOS and its symptoms. So, start with these immediately.
Remember to vale what you have and smile through it all.
All the best!
EJ: Dear Anu, I'm studying BTech final year. My love and I were in a relationship since 5 years. Things were fine till our diploma.
I got a seat in another college which was far from our place. At the same time, he moved to his hometown for house construction. There he met a girl. She is 34.
He used to talk a lot to her and got attached to her. He tells everything to me. He even said that people were spreading wrong rumours about them.
I told him to stay away till things got better. Since then he has stopped telling me much.
There was a recent fight in his hometown relating to both of them which annoyed him. He continues to say there is nothing wrong between both of us.
He used to love me a lot. Whenever I felt insecure or if there was any mood swings he used to make me calm and relaxed.
Now-a-days he always tells me ‘Wait. Don't call me.’ If I call him more, he just scolds me.
There are no sweet talks or setting time aside for a call, and all. He even says ‘I promised that I'll be with her at any time in any problem and now because everyone is spreading rumours I can't break my promise to her.’
What about me? Didn't you promise to make me happy? I feel betrayed.
I got angry and told him that my parents are seeing matches for me.
His reply shook me. He said: 'Go, get married.’
I was like ‘you aren't the same.’
I don't understand what to do or how to set things right.
My mental health is getting worse.
Dear S,
Your letter is very confusing to me.
I hope your post is genuine and not just to have fun…despite that I will consider it real and try to suggest what I can though I find your facts very contradictory.
Keeping the age factor aside, what I can say is: if someone does not treat you well, what’s the point waiting for that person?
If he isn’t interested in you, why are you chasing him?
Please make your world better by being around people who respect and value you and watch how beautiful it all becomes rather than searching and begging for love. He clearly isn’t into you anymore. So, move on…
All the best!
RM
Hi Anu, I am 23 years old and during my school time I have a boyfriend with 8 years of relationship. Our relation was going well until we moved towards sexual affection. I was always in denial of not feeling sexually attracted towards my guy. I did not have the mindset to have sex or the pleasure of having sex. Whenever he’d asked me about my sexual feelings I didn't like the conversation and simply tried to ignore it. Later it ended up in arguments. I tried to find out what’s wrong and I found myself with signs of asexuality. If I tell this to my partner he may exaggerate by saying that I am lying. I’ve always wanted to end the relations. But he will threatened that if I am not with him he will end his life. I am stuck in a situation where I don’t know how to make him understand or tell him that I am asexual and I can't make commitment. I want him to know that I can have sex with you or have sexual feelings with you in future.
Dear RM,
How do you know that you are asexual? Did you talk to any expert who was able to guide you to this revelation or is it internet-based diagnosis?
I know of many clients that I have worked with come up with fancy diagnosis based on some Q n A or multiple-choice tests available on the internet.
So, if it’s the internet, then time for you to step back and ask yourself:
It might be useful for the two of you to go into therapy not just for your current relationship but also to be able to release yourself from any unresolved emotions from childhood if any.
Value yourself for who you are!
All the best!
Anu Krishna is a mind coach, author and co-founder, Unfear Changemakers LLP and Soulful Exploration LLP. She's an NLP Trainer (National Federation of Neuro Linguistic Programming, NFNLP, USA), Energy Work Specialist (Institute for Inner Studies, Manila), Executive Member of Indian Association of Adolescent Health (M.I.A.A.H) and Member of Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI). She has authored the self-coaching book: The Secret of Life – Decoding Happiness.
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