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.
- Ask ANU: 'I feel suicidal. What can I do?'
- ASK ANU: How do I deal with loss of a loved one?
- ASK ANU: Are couples fighting more in the lockdown?
- ASK ANU: Do couples have less sex after marriage?
- ASK ANU: How NOT To Talk To Your Teen
- ASK ANU: Stressed by online classes? Seek help!
- ASK ANU: How to leave a toxic relationship
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:
Dear Anu, my girlfriend and I have been dating for the past 4 years in a live-in relationship.
Before that we were good friends and she's 3 years elder to me.
There came a situation that she was depressed due to something and I was supporting her which she thought as my love.
We started this "relationship" although there was no serious commitment from my side.
We had a good relationship, good moments. She paid my bills all the time even when I insisted, but there were lots of fights.
I feel she never understood me or anything I said or my thought process.
I don't think I really love her, because there is no spark and tried ending it many times.
In frustration I even started looking for other people so that maybe I can come out of it but she would find out and make me stay with her with some or other reason.
She's a very polite and sweet person and I don't want to be hurting her.
She's asking me to marry her which is making me nervous. What do I do ?
Dear A,
Kindly as yourself: what was the Live-in relationship?
Was it a relationship for her and not for you?
I really don’t understand what you mean by: She thought of your support as Love and that you were not serious commitment from your side.
It’s possible when you both were in a Live-in arrangement, she would have considered this as a relationship and become serious about it.
Since now it has gotten into a marriage stage for her, please respect her mind space and have a serious talk about this.
Take consideration of her feelings when you convey yours.
This is going to take some effort as you ease her into a space where she understands where you are in this connection.
Getting into another relationship for a distraction might not be a great idea; so do spend some time very amicably closing this one where the two of you can be mature about this.
All the best!
Puneet Kapoor: Hi Anu, After 17 years of married life, suddenly my wife has started behaving strangely.
She used to be very loving member of the family.
All of a sudden she has had major fights with her nieces whom she has virtually raised, with her bhabhi and now with my parents.
All within a span of two-three months.
With me also she has become aloof and disinterested.
She is so sensitive to any form of conversation, that I or anyone else have to walk on eggshells.
What do I do? How do I recover our marriage?
Dear PK,
Usually we miss seeing signs of any behaviour downturn. It happens over a period time.
Since I don’t have much information from you in this regard, maybe what I can ask you to look at is whether this is hormone related.
Women have a major change in their hormonal journey after 40 and it can impact different women in varied ways.
It might be good to check with her doctor who will recommend a few tests to rule out any physiological issue and if all that is fine, then you can think of whether there are any sudden changes in your lifestyle or any life altering changes that has impacted her adversely.
This can be a start point for you to take this forward. This is all I can suggest as I don’t have the information to share more.
All the best!
Manvander Poonia: Hey ma'am, I got into a relationship with a girl in 2019. In the beginning it was all good.
We both were committed to each other and we always promised each other of marrying but then I cheated on her.
She was still with me and forgave me and we moved on.
But then lockdown happened and I thought if we can't meet then we should at least be connected virtually most of the time so that she doesn't think I don't love her anymore.
She got irritated by it because her mental peace was not okay in lockdown and I thought I should support her by calling her and texting her all the time.
And now 6 months ago in December 2021 she blocked me.
I tried to sort it but couldn't communicate.
Three months ago we communicated and she told me everything how she got irritated and I told her that it’s both our fault that we didn't communicate.
So now when I know I was at fault can we start again?? She is saying now I am looking for someone better.
I love her ma'am. And I am still committed to marry her.
All her friends, her family, her sister know that I love her so much and they want us to be together but she is just blindly saying she wants someone else.
I can't live like this. Everyone in our circle says the way I handle her mood swings and all no one can do that. But I don’t know how to make her realise.
To be honest ma'am I don't want to lose her. I love her ma'am. Kindly help me ma'am
Thanks
Dear MP,
It might be a message from her to you to move on.
It could be because of her losing trust on you. Lockdown has changed the way that we think, feel and act and most of us have had a major overhaul in our lives.
You might have to win her trust back rather than just thinking that you love her and that she must understand this.
Maybe she is still hurt which means you need to go that extra mile to rebuild your relationship.
But if she has moved on and wishes that you move on as well, kindly respect this and move on.
All the best!
Nandini Seetharamaiah: Hi Anu, I'm a guest faculty working at a government educational institute.
I have a son who will be 5 years on August 13.
He is very active, smart and kind.
Recently I have noticed him crying and scared of death- Thanatophobia.
Every day in the evening he will start crying thinking the world will end. He will die or me and his Dad will die.
I explained him quiet spiritually that no death can come shiva will protect us. But he is not satisfied.
This particular behaviour of him has started since his school started.
Is this separation anxiety. Please help me how do I make him lead a normal life as he used to be?
Dear NS,
When did this exactly start after he started school?
It helps to go back to that point in time to when this first started to affect him.
Was there a death in the family? A movie that he watched? A story that was narrated to him? Someone in the school shared some content that is frightening?
It is unlikely that he might suddenly have this kind of a fearful reaction.
To assess if this is separation anxiety will require a detailed understanding of his situation.
Children that age as your son can extrapolate one story into another and weave a new story that might have never happened.
Their imagination can take on new dimensions. It will be worth the effort talking to his teachers and the school counsellor.
My suggestion to you is to gather all this information and go to a professional who can handle this.
Is this necessary? YES, as they are trained to deal with fears and panic.
This will help him release these unwanted feelings and breathe easy. Wait no longer.
Till then, surround him with much love and support him by reassuring him that his family loves him no matter what.
All the best!
DR: Hi Anu, I am a married 27 yr old girl pursuing my medical PG degree in a college and my husband is also fellow doctor residing in another city.
I stay in a hostel and I was in a relationship with a guy during my UG days.
Actually he used to be my best friend.
We are a gang of 4 and no one knows about my relationship except us both.
We moved on due to caste issues and foreseeing the problems after marriage in our families.
We are in touch with each other. He got PG degree in my college and seeing him is haunting my memories though we talk casually and not on regular basis.
My husband knows about us and asked me to avoid him. But I can't give up on my friendship.
Can a friendship aged in love not be reverted to friendship?
Dear DR,
Feelings aren’t something that can be set aside that easily.
To lead a different relationship than the one that you were in with the same person requires a lot of emotional maturity from both of you to make this real and honest.
If you look at it from the point of view of your husband, he might either be insecure about this, or he can foresee a situation up ahead which might not be very pleasant.
You have mentioned that seeing him is bringing back memories.
Are you really ready to maintain a friendship without the feelings coming in the way? Are you ready to manage what this might do to your husband?
If you are ready and be objective about all of this, then first sit your husband down and talk to him and his fears.
Reassure him but like any relationship, all this requires a lot of work and then it’s also time to ask yourself, is this all worth it and do I really need to do this?
Also, is the other person from your past, also willing to understand that this requires him to put your marriage above his needs?
So, check with yourself what and how much you can handle and whether you are ready for this new challenge?
Best wishes!
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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