All about Empowerment with Prerna Avasthi

I always wanted to express my thoughts on issues such as women empowerment, menstrual hygiene, and mental health. Not knowing how and where to properly express them, I started a small page where I used to pen down my thoughts and post them. I never paid any attention to the following, because me being able to write them was enough for me. Amid all this writing, I somehow got into social work. I believed that it was high time, I stood up and did something about the issues I talked about.

As my page grew, new opportunities started coming my way and I was invited to speak on various platforms such as Canvas Literature Club and Social House. I decided to use my voice to make a change.

I decided to use my voice to talk about women’s issues and did a campaign called ‘Donate a Pad’ where I talked to disadvantaged people about menstrual hygiene, PCOD, the importance of using sanitary pads, and also donated pads. I wanted to do more for society and when people started approaching me for social and environment-related issues, I could not say no. That was just the beginning and I eventually got into other social and environment-related work. Now, I can proudly call myself a social activist, an environmentalist, and a writer.

My journey till here has not been easy. When you talk and stand up to fight against such issues, you are always going to receive criticism. The same happened to me as well. I got a lot of negative feedback and there came a point when all this negativity became too much for me handle and I briefly suffered from mental illness.

That is when I decided to lend my voice to mental health issues.  I believe that, when you share your experience with mental illness, it provides other people with hope and courage that they will get through it as well. Things have changed a lot for me and I have come a long way. I decided to rise above that negativity and fight for the things believed in.

In the end, I would just like to add that there are always going to be hurdles in your way and there will be times when you will doubt yourself, but you need to rise above that and fight those hurdles. You need to believe in yourself and be true to yourself, then things will work out just fine for you. All you’ve got to do is wait.