India Vaasi

We all have a story worth telling, even if we think we don't. Message us / comment below, and we will help you find your story and share it with the world.

Let's find a home for your experiences.

Rest in peace. ❤️

Until a few months ago, I had terrible eating habits - or rather, the lack of them. I was eating one meal a day, or less. I had done that unknowingly for years, and I always told myself that it was simply because I was busy and did not have the time to cook three meals a day for myself. I would go weeks without eating even a single whole meal in the day until hunger and lack of nutrients would catch up, and I would eat maybe a meal and a half instead.

It was only around six months ago that I realized that I wasn’t that busy. I was just using it as an excuse to not eat, because I wasn’t happy with the way I looked.

I grew up watching zero-size ladies in commercials and movies, and the aunties of everywhere never failed to comment on my weight - even if it was in a good way. I had always, truly believed that my weight is important to my body and my personality, and as I hit my teenage years and gained weight like a normal human, I started to freak out. I thought I was getting fat and ugly - as if those two words were ever meant to be tied together.

So I buckled up and started putting food in my body, whether or not I wanted to eat. I started with two and expanded to almost three healthy meals in a day. I made myself love the body I am in. And all was good until a few days ago, when someone told me I’ve gotten very fat over the years. All it took were a few words to put all my progress into reverse.

I spent the next few days watching calories and not eating again. I struggled with nausea because the minute I was near food, a mental ticker would go off in my head, screaming at me that I needed to lose weight.

But here's the thing - I'm not overweight - my BMI is perfectly fine. At most, I could lose a couple of kilograms, but I am healthy and happy and that's that. So I let my body feel what it needed to feel for a couple of days, and then eased myself back into a healthy diet.

Life can be hard, and people can be rude, but all you really need is to stop pitying yourself, and start loving yourself. Learn to love yourself, and remember to give yourself some space. And the next time something goes wrong, or someone says something hurtful, remember that your best weapon is your faith in yourself.

Hi! My name is Ish*ta.



For one year, I couldn't really get myself to post stuff on my art account . But now, since the quarantine has started, my energy to post things on my account has also increased a lot. Maybe it's because initially, I didn't have any online classes or because I wanted to help in this situation by giving ideas to people on what they can do if they are bored at home. It almost felt like this time is given to us so that we can work on our talents and interests which never got our attention because of the phrase 'I don't have time', but now there are no excuses and we have a lot of time.



While I was having a great time doing things for my account, I also got an opportunity that I waited for my whole life. It was to able to have a lot of time with my dad because before this, he was always working and trying to expand his empire, to let us have a good education. But the selfish me always wanted to have more time with him than just a few hours of his day, and because of the lockdown, he is stuck at home with us. I am happy not only because I am getting a lot of time with him, but because he used to ignore his health while trying to provide for our education. We even made playing ludo a daily thing and it's the best time of my day seeing my family together. Even though I work a lot for imcraftesy - my getaway from this life - in reality imcraftesy will always be my second family and second life, and my family will always be first.



I am really glad to have this time of my life even though it is not really good, but Earth has healed in this time. Everything will take years to go back to normal, but do I want things to go back to normal. "What is this normal?" is still the question of my life. Is it being busy and not having time for the family even though you are only working to provide for your family? Or this abnormal is normal where we all have the time for our loved ones and even our own selves. I still wish the reasons were different but I think it was this or nothing.



I hope everyone gets to enjoy this time, and even though I don't want it to, it's important for this time to be over so that no more lives are taken away anymore.



Be safe!

I was 26 years old when it began and didn't know that even though I said yes, if it's manipulated it isn't consent. I stayed with him for two years and had convinced myself that his behaviour and actions towards me were because he loved me.

With a firm grip on my arm he would tell me how much he loved me, and then degrade me more than I ever imagined possible. And it happened again, and again. Close to the end I was suicidal, I had written a goodbye letter and made a plan, I just couldn't take it anymore. He had convinced me to do so much, I thought there was no way I could move past it.

I don't know what clicked in my mind, but the last time it happened I knew that it had to be the last time. I told him it was over and I never saw him again. That was a year ago, almost to the day. I spent the spring of 2019 back home, safe but broken. I've been trying to move past everything but the reality is that sometimes you'll be good for a while and then it will hit you like a tidal wave.

You'll blame yourself for everything and despise yourself for letting it go on for so long. I lost all respect for myself. It's gotten easier with time and as I focus more on the small victories - like when he tries to contact me and I block all of his numbers, or when I'm able to verbalize the words "I am a survivor of intimate partner abuse" for the first time - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's getting brighter with every passing day.

I want to take control of my narrative once more and although I know I have a long way to go in my healing process, I refuse to give him any more power over me. I'm learning how to choose myself again.

How do you choose yourself? How do you go from always putting someone else's needs before your own (in the name of building a "partnership") to taking care of yourself again?

It took me a really long time to decide that I needed to choose myself, and I still sometimes doubt myself (maybe it would have been easier to just stay). It's not easy to walk away from something that once brought you joy, even if only for a flicker of a moment. Walking away is only the first step.

Then comes the self doubt and the long road to becoming yourself again. I've always second guessed my judgement just a little bit and now that I'm coming out of something in which every decision in my life was made for me, it's only natural to question my choice.

It doesn't help that I don't always do well with change, definitely not when it's unexpected, and the past few years have brought a flood of change that I didn't have a choice but to adjust to. I was pretty overwhelmed. Self care didn't just take a back seat, it took the last seat at the back of the bus.
​
But for the next little bit choosing myself is the only choice I'm willing to make.

https://tinyurl.com/y8c2hh9s: Submit your story today! Anything counts - from how you overcame a hardship to what you're doing during quarantine.