Nikhil Autar

Tag: self confidence

  • 3 FEMALE Medical Students/Doctors Shave Heads for a Cure!

    Last post:                                    My Story:                                        Next One:

    Three good friends of mine are doing something most girls can’t even imagine. They’re shaving their hair for the leukemia foundation’s #shaveforacure movement.

    They’re all budding doctors like me. In fact, as this was written a few years ago, THEY’RE ALL DOCTORS NOW (I couldn’t be prouder)
    And
    yes, you read right.
    They ARE ALL GIRLS!
    These girls are sacrificing a lot. You may think that as a guy, I can’t relate. But I do know first hand how hard losing your looks can affect someone, especially their self confidence.
    After multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and 2 bone marrow transplants I started hating how I looked, how I felt and the fact I wasn’t normal anymore.
    But I managed to get past that. I saw another way of looking at things, and have become the happiest person I can because of it.
    I no longer have to rely on my looks, my clothes or my
    achievements to be happy in life.
    And I thought, what better way to help, and thank them than to make them become the most confident happy version of themselves. And I hope this message, that I sent to all three of them, helps you too.
    You can help them along in their cause by sending them messages of support and helping them reach their goals by clicking their links below. Their stories, and the reasons why they’re doing this are all very touching and makes me proud to call them my friends. 
    This post was written years ago, so I don’t have links to their fundraising pages anymore… but you can support a friend of mine who’s going through chemo at 15, who’s recently lost her hair, but still manages to smile in the face of all this here! Here’s a picture of 2 of the 3 post shave! 
    And below, is the message I gave to them to pump them up and show them how all of this is an opportunity to grow too.

    Losing your hair is an opportunity.

    My message to these girls:

    “When I found out I had cancer, I was down in the dumps. After a while of that though, I took a step back, looked at what I was doing and resolved to see everything that had happened and was going to happen in the most positive way possible – to make sure I’d stay as happy, and healthy, going forward with my treatment.
     
    When I got told I had chemotherapy in the next few days, it was hard for me to see anything but pain and angst in my future – not only for fear of physical pain, but in the damage to my emotions and looks too. But after a while, I again took a step back and decided to look at it another way. 
    Instead of seeing my chemo as something that’d bring pain, bad looks and possible death, I decided to look at it as what it was.
     
    THE MEDICINE THAT WOULD MAKE ME BETTER.

    There’s a huge difference between the two. The difference
    between resigning yourself to death and going in fighting, with a smile on your
    face.
     
    Well, you guys don’t have to face the whole death thing like I did haha.
     
    But you will lose your looks, and, though I was more beautiful than all of you put together and thus had more to lose (obvious exaggeration there), you guys may find it harder to deal with than me.
     
    I turned that self doubt into something that’s made me so supremely self confident. And I’m gonna show you how you can do that too.
     
    When I came out of hospital I was losing hair, on medications which made me look fat, changed my skin and deformed me to looking like someone else, I started doubting myself, more than any teenage shyness/social anxiety ever could.
     
    I now see, looking back, that I was stopping myself from doing what I wanted, from being happy. And I was even endangering my health because of that. I stopped going out, stopped exercising, went out of my way to stay inside all because of what people may have been thinking about my looks. I didn’t even do that consciously. I wasn’t always depressed about how I looked, I was using my health and bad looks as an excuse to not want to do anything.
     
    But after a while of this, again I took a step back and looked at what I was doing. And I resolved to look at life another, most constructive way. What I resolved to do was simple. I told myself not to worry about what people MAY have been thinking about me and instead worry about how I could make myself, and those I cared about happy.
     
    Me before and after chemo and treatment.
     
    Today when I walk down the street, even with my skin the way it is, hair all weird, fat deposited in weird places all around my body due to Cushing’s disease – Even though I don’t look even a tenth of how good I had before all of this all – I can smile and laugh at everyone and everything on the way. Here’s how I do this in full detail.
     
    Now for you guys, the shave coming may seem hard and scary. But I know you guys can do what I did.
     
    Instead of dreading the day you cut your hair, look at it as an opportunity.
    Not only will you gain first hand experience of what it’s like to be a patient, which will help you relate and help more people in your careers as awesome doctors, you will also become the most confident, happy version of yourself in the process.
     
    There’s a huge difference between going into it scared and coming out afraid to look in the mirror, and looking at it as something that will make you the strongest, most happy person you can be.
     
    And be sure that by the time you guys do the shave, making thousands in donations along the way, I’ll make sure each and every one of you will be sitting on that chair with a smile on your face.”
    I hope this message inspires everyone reading this to look at their challenges in life as an opportunity – because that’s how you can be the happiest, most successful version of yourselves. 
     
    For me – I looked at my chemotherapy as what it was, a medicine, rather than a death sentence.
    For these girls – I’ve inspired them to see the World’s Greatest Shave as something that will inspire and build their self-confidence, rather than something that’ll make them sweat at night.

    For others going through a similar experience –> I hope this helps you to be as happy and positive going forward in your journey. If you’re a cancer survivor who’s also about to lose your hair, or go through pain, really take this message to heart. Because going into it all, looking at it as an opportunity, rather than something you can’t lose will not only make it bearable – it’ll make you STRONGER!

    For everyone else reading this:
    –> Next time you have a job interview, look at it as a chance to showcase your prowess and skills, something to gain rather than something you can’t blow.
    –> Next time you’re taking that final shot in a game, look at it as a chance to help your team win, or a chance to show off your hard work rather than a way to fail yet again.
    –> Next time you’re sitting an exam you aren’t confident about, walk in with a smile on your face, looking to pick up every mark possible rather than panicking, fretting and forgetting half the things in the exam room.
     
    If you can take a step back, and see the positive way of looking at things, you’ll be the happiest person you can be.
     
    Because everything in life is an opportunity.
    And once you see that, only YOU can stop yourself from
    grabbing them.
     
    These girls doing the shave have all messaged me back, and I’ve been surprised by their bravery, their determination, and mostly, by the fact that they all are sincerely doing their best to raise money for a better tomorrow for millions suffering with blood cancers everyday.

    They’re still scared of what’s to come, but this message has seriously helped them to see another way of looking at things and hopefully, when it comes time to shave, they’ll be happy for what they’ve done.

     

    But they do need support. Please, do send them a message by clicking the links below. It only takes a second of your time, but it’ll help these girls on their quest to help others. 
    And if you can spare some change – you can donate to them too on that page.
    But here are pictures of these amazing young women, who are all AMAZING doctors now!
    Aimee and Nadeen

                                                                           Lana

     

  • How to build self confidence and become the happiest version of yourself!

    I was diagnosed with leukemia at 17 and given a 10, maybe 20 percent, chance of living.

    And I was devastated… as any human being would be. But after a while I started to dislike that feeling.

    The constant depression.

    The tears.

    The gut-clenching dread.

    I wanted this to all be over. I wanted a way out of the hole that I’d found myself in. But with chemotherapy, uncertainty, and probable death in my future, there wasn’t much to really look forward to.

    In the end, what ended up helping me most wasn’t this spark of inspiration or willpower or bravery after watching some inspiring talk or reading some book. The words of everyone around me felt hollow.

    What did they know about what I was going through, after all? I was 17, and had just been told I probably wouldn’t live to see 22.

    What really helped me was a simple thought process I did after just being sick of that angst.

    I decided, “Why not take a step back and looked at what had happened to me, as if it had happened to someone else.”

    From there I guess I saw everything that had happened to me objectively. So I could finally question everything that was going on and more importantly, how I was dealing with it.

    And I did that through asking why. Why was I feeling that way?

    There was no answer. In the end I realized I had what I had. Though it may suck, I couldn’t go back in time and change what had happened. I couldn’t take away my cancer.

    So, what was my anger and frustration accomplishing? Nothing. Other than making me feel worse about everything.

    Why was I feeling that way then? In the end, it was coming from me, my brain. Why was I doing that to myself?

    I didn’t have an answer for that.

    Nikhil Autar Scar Stories 3
    Photo credit: Analia Paino

    But that question alone made me realize one thing that stays with me to this day. Because if all of that was coming from me, my brain, my mind… that meant I could take that away, too.

    In the end, we will always have the final say on how we deal with things. At the very least, we’ll always have a second way of looking at things.

    But we’re only human, right? And with months to years of chemo, pain, treatment — all of which is likely leading to me dying anyway — there wasn’t much to look forward to, right?

    So I questioned those fears and doubts, too.

    Again, one question got me through that — Why? Why was I thinking I was cursed for being diagnosed so young?

    My doctor’s words as this happened rang through my head as I heard this. When I was diagnosed he told me, “The good news is, you’re 17 and you have leukemia, but the bad news is, you’re 17 and you have leukemia.”

    Good news? “Good news? Really dude!” I remember thinking for a while after that.

    But when I thought about it, being diagnosed young meant I could get the optimal treatment — I could recover faster. I didn’t have a job or a family or kids to worry about. Indeed, I had one right there beside me the whole way!

    What I once thought was a curse turned out to be a blessing. But why was I so afraid?

    I was looking at chemo as a thing that brings pain and misery. And it would. And that sucked.

    But wasn’t it also a medicine? The very thing that could get me out of this? Indeed, my doctors wouldn’t be putting me through this if they didn’t think it could work.

    Why was I so pissed off, afraid and depressed?

    In the end, I was worrying about all these things I couldn’t control. And that worry and stress were only hurting me more.

    From stepping back and looking at my situation objectively I could see the only logical thing to do was to focus on the things I could control.

    My health.

    My actions.

    My happiness.

    Because what this has taught me is you will always have a second (better way) of looking at things. Always.

    It’s not easy to see that straight away. Definitely not if you’re overwhelmed and in the midst of it. Depression makes that harder, too.

    But if you can take a step back, talk about it with someone, and just ask, “Why?”’ You can get yourself through just about anything and become the happiest, most successful version of yourself.

    It doesn’t take courage. I wasn’t brave or inspiring in my “battle” (in truth, it was a beating) with cancer.

    I cried, I wailed for it to be over. I still do sometimes. (Beating cancer isn’t always the end of pain for many survivors. Depression came, too. It’s something I face, and I write about it here as well as on my own blog). But I kept in mind these things — what it was all for — and by doing that I saw something good in the darkest days of my life.

    You don’t need some superhuman willpower or positivity, either.

    Because in the end, if you can take that step back, and ask why… if you can help your friends and family do the same… then it becomes only logical. It only makes sense to take the path that leaves you most well-off.

    And I hope what I’ve said can help you do this.

    Nikhil Autar Scar Stories 2
    Photo credit: Analia Paino. Sign up to my email list to get my latest blog as soon as it comes out!


    One place where I think I’ve done this after cancer, against something which some of you may be feeling (whether you’ve had cancer or not), is with my social anxiety post-treatment.

    You see, before cancer (not to brag or anything) I was quite a hunk (at least I thought I was). I wasn’t too fussy about how I looked but was a little, just as much as any awkward teen is. But I was fit. Very fit. I used to train for basketball almost every morning before class, and during breaks, and abide by a strict weight regimen.

    But after treatment ravaged my body, I was left bloated out of my mind, unable to jump an inch, yet alone run. I’d lost a huge part of me. And it sucked.

    Without even realizing it, I began using my health as an excuse not to go out. Whenever I did, the glances from people would bore into me, asking questions as to why I had such horrendous features, and when I tried to walk around the suburbs and try to run again, I’d feel ashamed when I’d puff out after less than a football field.

    As I started my medical degree, I’d made friends but didn’t want to go out for fun or to events. I even stopped going out to see old friends at all, worried about what they were thinking. And that made life so much worse.

    One day though, I sat down, took a step back and asked, “Why am I feeling this way?”

    After a few days of thinking about it, I realized I was afraid. Not of chemo, or radiation or bone marrow transplants and other things that could kill me this time, but from other peoples’ thoughts about me.

    It already seemed ludicrous to me at that point. But when I questioned it, I found no answer as to why I should care so much about other peoples opinions about me.

    Because:

    (a) Most people aren’t thinking anything bad of me at all. People have to look somewhere when they walked, and if they happened to look at me, most people wouldn’t think anything nefarious so much as to walk on. Many would smile. Most would smile back I’d say.

    (b) Why was I caring so much? If they were judging me, they’d be pretty shallow, inconsiderate people who I really wouldn’t like to be friends with. Why do we all — whether we have scars or not — try so hard to impress people we don’t even like for that matter? Why not instead, focus on what we’d like to do. On the things that make us happy?

    Now that was the first step. It wasn’t like I came up with this new philosophy and started becoming this happy #YOLO optimist in one day. I started small, by first starting to smile at people (most of the time, they did smile back) on my walks and jogs, then not shying away from asking people for directions at the university or hospital when I was lost or asking the workers at the groceries store instead of trying to find everything on my own.

    I finally reached a point where I could walk around and not care.

    Now I’m very open about my journey but can also do talks, in front of thousands or just a few, about how I deal with things.

    Indeed, I’m the most confident version of myself.

    Nikhil Autar Scar Stories who cares?
    Photo credit: Analia Paino

    But most importantly, this helped me become the most happy version of myself.

    And I hope this helps you feel happier about yourself, too.

    Nikhil writes a blog about his journey, hoping to help out patients, inspire the medical profession (he’s studying medicine now) to educate people on worthy causes and to help others out in all kinds of circumstances (he truly believes this mentality can help with anything, from the mundane struggles we have in day-to-day life, to the epic journeys we take in life). He’s also doing many exciting things, including working in cancer immunotherapy research and a social enterprise that’s revolutionizing the hospital bed, to not just increase patient comfort, but to also hopefully reduce unnecessary cases of infections, fall, and pressure sores — to name a few — which literally kill hundreds of thousands per year, as well as potentially make millions of dollars a year!  Most importantly though, he hopes he can help you, too. 

    This post was originally published on Scar Stories.