World Mental Health Day 2022: I had just started working and all of a sudden lockdown happened, says Ankur Verma

Photographer - Rohit Dey

Actor Ankur Verma, who plays the lead in the Balaji show ‘Parineeti' considers himself to be one lucky man, for he had got to romance two ladies in one show. He is all set to star as a lead protagonist opposite Sonakshi Sinha in the web-series ‘Dahaad'. Mid Day Online met up with him for an exclusive interview on the occasion of ‘World Mental Health Day 2022'

Ankur, have you ever struggled with any kind of clinically diagnosed mental health condition? If so, will you be comfortable sharing your experience?
I've never diagnosed with any mental health condition, but, if I ever get diagnosed with any it, I'll not be feeling shy about it to tell it the world. I feel mental health condition is like a normal like health conditions. And this is having been forever but it has now been discovered. First people didn't know about it. These days it is increased because of work stress and pressure. People not used to tell it to others that there were in depression. But now people understand and people realize that this is also important. And we should not hype it much that people will get scared. This has to be very normal. If anyone is suffering from it, they should feel free to talk about it, they should get treated and should get work leave.

How mentally difficult was it for you to deal with Covid 19 times?
Very difficult. It was very tough dealing with Covid times because my life was going very smooth, I had just started working and all of a sudden lockdown happened and everything came at a halt. It was really a very hard time for me but at the same time it also taught me the importance of spending time with your family, taking breaks, meditation and personal development.

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Can you tell us as to how can one identify the people with mental health issue?
First of all, I feel everybody gets tired of their work and their living culture. Out of all the 30 working days we feel like working for only 10-20 days! People who don't get time to relax or spend time with their family usually say that they're suffering from 'depression' but then by calling it a mental health problem, the actual mental illness gets sidelined. Nowadays anxiety and depression is such a generalized term we use it anywhere and anytime on small things as well. We should stop over hyping and focus on people who are not able to focus or concentrate on their life due to this problem. We should stop using the word 'depression' for all petty problems in life because you can't say this after not liking what you're doing and just say that you're depressed or you're suffering from anxiety because of that. Small stress is not equivalent to depression

How do you motivate yourself daily to be happy mentally?
My idea of motivating myself is that you have to be happy in whatever you're doing and accept yourself the way you are. I really get a very strange feeling when someone asks me what is your purpose in life because my purpose in life is to be happy and make everyone around me happy, also I do things that make me happy and the things I do makes me happy and this is something that motivates me on daily basis.

Are you a mentally satisfied person today?

No, I'm not a satisfied person today and it's okay to be not satisfied. One thing that has to be there is you should be happy and you should be unsatisfied. If you are satisfied then there is an end to your happiness. You make one goal and you achieve that and again make another goal, achieve that too and continue to do it. This is my idea of to be happy and to be unsatisfied. It's okay to be unsatisfied but you should be happy.

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