Work takes a toll on us, but when personal things come to take your progress a step back, there’s no harm in taking the opportunity to reach out for professional help.

I'm not sure if it’s college or the pandemic, but the level of stress I can experience from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. is puzzling. Nevertheless, things have to move forward, and it took me a rough year before I could realize what I actually needed to stay on track.

Desperate to find a way to cope, I saw myself trying a bunch of coping mechanisms to see what works for me. Personally, a big coping mechanism was to take my time to do things that I enjoy, like watching movies, but that ended up making me feel guilty with layers of heavier personal problems that came later this year. When emotions finally drain out however, I move on and continue where I last left off with an essay or two—working on my emotions required thinking back and thinking back to me meant being unable to catch up with backlogs again.

This kept on going for too long. Stress and peace tossed and turned so much as it could happen at any moment. Usually, processing emotions with friends was a good idea, but considering how busy everyone is now, I’m left alone to my own devices.

At first, I thought of getting professional help, but the cost was too much, even if it meant I’ll be able to think better. Then I remembered how I already had a little professional help before; the Benilde Wellness Center (BWC) provides telecounseling services to Benildeans—perfect. It was a big step to contact them through their email, but eventually it lead me to finally filling out their form for personal counseling, 

How does that make you feel?

I was extremely comforted. That’s it; one session and I could suddenly face my problems up front, and it would immediately fizzle out. At the time of writing this, I already had at least three sessions of telecounseling, and each one was a revelation. We could say it was what I really needed at those times.

Oddly enough, not many people I talk to know about BWC’s telecounseling service, and I think everyone should at least know about it. Though psychiatry would’ve been nice to try out, there’s a considerable amount of comfort whenever I’d talk with the counselors through my laptop screen. All I had to do was overcome the fear of being vulnerable, but holding onto trust into feeling better was a strong anchor.

The more comfortable I was with the format, I began to take a step forward and utilize the service when more personal issues with family and finances made me have breakdowns. After actually being able to talk to the counselor, it was both relieving and scary to walk back into my life and take action. Enlightened by the counselor, I feel now as if I know where I’m at and heading.

I may not overcome the mental knots I have anytime soon, but I think seeking help is a start, and you should try it too.