You must have spotted three very important terms on Shama Sikander’s Instagram bio. The three words are ‘mental health advocate’. As an artiste, Shama has always been bold and suave, all thanks to her never-say-never attitude and indomitable spirit. Shama Sikander is known to be a face symbolising courage, hardwork and resilience. However, she’s in every perspective the most perfect example of the fact that just because someone is courageous, he or she can’t have emotional turmoil in life.
Given the kind of pressure, celebrities and public figures are on a regular basis, a lot is expected out of them, certain things being rational while the other half, definitely not. No longer is showing your vulnerable side to the world as a public figure considered a weakness. In today’s time, many have gotten the confidence to actually go ahead and speak about their times of crisis. However, the reason why Shama Sikander deserves credit here is because she is actually one of the earliest ones to have been this honest, straightforward and transparent about the importance of mental health. She herself never shied away when her own mental health had taken a backseat due to depression and the way in which she came out of it was truly inspirational. Just like Shama, many too have eventually later onwards spoken about its importance. From talking about the importance of mental health in many conferences and events as a guest speaker to highlighting its importance in speaker sessions, interviews and workshops, whenever an opportunity has come, Shama Sikander has always been at the forefront of things to educate the youth the right way.
Shama Sikander started conversations on these when there was a huge element of doubt over how much she would be judged. So, the way she actually managed to keep any negative influence or thought aside to educate today’s generation about the importance of mental health is truly inspiring and deserves special recognition indeed.
Kudos to her for breaking stereotypes and for taking the onus to shape the future of the younger generation for a better tomorrow. Here’s hoping that she continues to inspire people with her honesty and transparency because they certainly have to be her biggest strengths.
