Below the participants of the project “The Road to Recovery” share their experience.
Have you ever been in a room full of people and still felt lonely with your thoughts and emotions? It is exactly in that split second when you simply wish there were somebody who could listen to you and help you overcome those toxic ideas and emotions that seemed to be for no reason. I am sure that during the pandemic this feeling chased most of us and still exists somewhere in our hearts, storms of minds, or in the oceans of emotions. Due to “Road to Recovery,” I can certainly say that I am one of those lucky people in the world who has had the unique opportunity to talk about the stress, depression, and anxiety that COVID-19 had brought into our lives.
“Road to Recovery” was certainly a life-changing program. While creating an essential platform for voicing mental and physical health problems we all have encountered with, the training also gave us a valuable opportunity to meet and become friends with some of the most amazing youth from various parts of the world. Every single day was a chance for me to understand my mental and emotional health better and discover new things about myself. Starting the day with many fun exercises “to make our bodies follow our minds,” as Emilia would say, learning new methods and techniques to overcome stress and anxiety, and having a chance to celebrate various extraordinary and exuberant cultures during the cultural nights definitely made the training once-in-the-lifetime experience for me.
Due to the training, I truly feel that I can understand my tiggers of stress and depression better. Now I can manage my emotional and mental breakdowns better and control my anxiety through some of practical breathing exercises.
In short, “Road to Recovery” absolutely helped me to change for the better and learn to accept my feelings and thoughts as they are. The lesson for life that I will take with me from this training is that being vulnerable is humane and beautiful. No matter how lonely one may feel in your mind and heart, we all need to remind ourselves that whatever we are going through is okay and there is always a way out of it. Just keep swimming and you will find it!
