Mir Muhammad Ali Khan
I have been meaning to write about this topic which is considered taboo in our culture. Certain events today have compelled me to finally write and write for the sake of the youth of Pakistan.
As i was driving back with my father from a family event earlier tonight i received a call that a friend of mine shot himself dead. Out of depression.
If you had met him, you would not know in a million years that he was suffering from such severe depression. Always cheery, life of the party, loud, lovingly obnoxious with his jokes about every race in this world including his own.
You may ask, than how did it happen ? Well, Depression is the most disgustingly camouflaged mental disease that one can come across. And as much as i have studied human behaviour and the mental sciences within the past 25 years or so, one thing is for sure that ever since i have moved back to Pakistan, i have seen mild signs of depression in so many people. And justifiably so.
We have more problems than majority of the nations in the world. From morning till night we are thrown subtle negativity in some cases to outright depressive news in our faces in addition to the everyday hardship of living life in a developing nation without level playing fields for all.
So what should one do, specially the young and the restless of Pakistan ? Well, let me try to relate to you by giving you some names, Angelina Jolie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kylie Minogue, Sheryl Crow, Gwyneth Paltrow, Princess Diana, Abrahan Lincoln, Sir Winston Churchill, Vincent Van Gogh, Sir Isac Newton, Mark Twain, and many more have suffered severe depression, fought it, got it treated and went on to become successful and maintain a healthy mental life.
They were not afraid to admit that there was something medically wrong with themselves and it required medical and professional attention. They were BRAVE enough to say that “this is not the way my story will end”….They took the first step of removing the age old stigma of a temporary mental illness being blamed by the society as someone being declared crazy.
To me, you are crazy if you don’t treat your depression. To me the people who ridicule your mental state are crazy. Not the one suffering from the illness.
You get a simple scratch on your hand and you run to the doctor so it does not turn into a puss infected arm. You have a simple common cold with fever and the whole family runs to serve you hand and feet to get you cured.
Friends send you get well messages and family treats you like you need to be saved from some serious illness. All this for your physical bodily illness ? How about the Engine that runs that body and your entire life called your mind ? The most important organ of your body, your brain. How about treating it when its calling for attention.
Before i go any further let me admit that i myself have suffered from this terrible disease for a period of time. And it was very difficulty for me to even admit to myself let alone in public like i am doing it today that i was suffering from Depression 10 years ago for a period of 2 years.
My ego would not allow me to admit that because i was motivating the world around me, how could i show to the world that i myself was suffering from something deep down inside the mental corridor of thoughts. But i decided that this is not the way my still will end. I decided that i will let my hardship prepare an ordinary person like me for an extraordinary destination.
I made up my mind that I would go through pain and consider myself blessed that this mental uneasiness called depression is a sign that there is still life left in me, it is a sign that Allah has something great planned for me up ahead in my life but he wants me to get rid of the negativity and all illnesses from my thoughts before i reach my destination, planned by him. And that very moment i decided that I am not going to give in because One Day i want to say to the world that “i made it” and surprisingly that day is today.
I have written all about it in my upcoming Auto Biography but i am revealing it today for the first time that i have fought depression and won. And If i can do it, so can you. Do not let your life have the shadows and clouds of negativity. Find a Doctor, Be brave, Admit that its just an illness like any other, admit that “you” did not cause it so you will not take the blame for it either. Remember that IF you are Depressed, You are living in the past. If you are Anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace only than you are living in the present. And all future comes from present. So take care of your present, Look forward to life and remember to:
Keep your thoughts positive
Because Your Thoughts Become Your words.
Keep your words positive
Because Your Words Become Your Behaviour.
Keep your behaviour positive
Because Your Behaviour Becomes Your Habits.
Keep your habits positive
Because Your Habits Become Your Values
And Finally…
Keep your values positive Because Strong People are made with opposition like the KITES that go up against the wind.
This is guest article by Mir Muhammad Ali Khan.
Mir Mohammad Alikhan is internationally renowned Investment Banker, Entrepreneur & Capital Markets Advisor. At the age of 29, he became the youngest Chairman and Founder of a Full service Investment Bank in America and the first Muslim to have owned an investment bank on Wall Street. He has had a successful career as Founder & Chairman The Financial Group, Inc., Federal Advisor to Govt. of Pakistan, a Member of New Jersey Governors Council, a Senior Advisor to New Jersey State Mayors and US State Senators. He introduced Islamic Banking Research into mainstream America by co-sponsoring and advising Harvard University to launch Harvard Islamic Finance and Information Program (HIFIP).
He also developed “THE WORD’S FIRST ISLAMIC BANKING BENCHMARK INDEX on WALL STREET Named:KMS-SAMI: (Socially Aware Muslin Index) Which Is Now A Functional Index Run By The Dow Jones Indices. He has also been featured in “Who’s Who of Top Executives in the World”. Featured in “Humans Of Pakistan” and in 2015 he became the first Pakistani ever to have a movie produced on his life through a first time co-production of Hollywood and Pakistani production house Sermad Films, The Producers of the movie “JALAIBEE”.WWW.MIRMAK.NET/Biography
