Throughout my life, I’ve had multiple very close friends go through things I didn’t fully understand at the time.

Not random people.  
Not distant classmates.  
Close friends.

And around five years ago, I went through a rough phase myself.

Not anything extreme.  
Just a phase where I wasn’t okay.

I couldn’t sleep properly.  
Couldn’t eat properly.  
From the outside, everything looked normal.  
Football. Tea with the boys. FIFA. Classes.

Inside, it felt heavy all the time. Like a constant knot in my stomach.

A few friends knew. They genuinely cared. But the only thing anyone could really say was, “It’ll be fine.”

And maybe they were right. But when you’re in it, that sentence doesn’t fix anything.

The weirdest part?  
There were so many things to look forward to. So many reasons to be grateful. And yet, I still felt low. I didn’t understand why.

I also used to think mental health was overhyped.  
I thought therapy was unnecessary.  
I thought you could just “talk to your friends.”

But the truth is, you can’t always say everything to your friends. Not because they’re bad people. But because sometimes you don’t want to be judged. Or you don’t know how to explain what you’re feeling. Or you don’t even understand it yourself.

I’ve never really said all this publicly before.

But that phase changed how I look at things.

That’s why I created **Unmuted**.

Unmuted isn’t some dramatic movement. It’s simple.

It’s a place where students can talk to trained peer counsellors for ₹49 a session. Not therapy. Not clinical treatment. Just structured, safe conversations with someone who listens without judging.

And outside of sessions, we built a community on Discord:

[https://discord.gg/JFFNjQwM](https://discord.gg/JFFNjQwM)

  
[https://unmuted.co.in](https://unmuted.co.in/)

If you’re doing great, I’m genuinely happy for you.  
If you’re not, you don’t have to deal with it alone.

mental health should be free