Are We Really Talking About Mental Wellness, or Just Covering the Cracks?

These days, everywhere we turn, people are talking about mental wellness. It’s on social media, in workplaces, in everyday conversations. And yes, it feels good that the subject is no longer hidden in silence. But if we pause for a moment, a deeper question arises: are we really talking about the roots of our struggles, or are we just decorating the surface with pretty words like “self-care” and “positive vibes only”?

Because when we look around, the world still feels heavy. Families are breaking under pressure. Small arguments at home turn into battles of ego. Society is shaken every day by crimes — rapes, honor killings, revenge attacks, violence against women. People are losing loved ones to anger, to ego, to cycles of pain that never seem to end. These wounds are not new; they have existed for generations. The difference is that now, because of the internet, we see them instantly. Every fight, every crime, every tragedy goes viral within minutes.

Positivity, on the other hand, is slow. It takes time to spread. It takes patience to plant in hearts. But negativity? It spreads like wildfire, feeding on our fears and outrage. And somewhere in this imbalance, we are left exhausted.

We find ourselves running like horses, not even sure where we are headed. Goals keep changing — one day it’s the trending business idea, another day it’s the influencer lifestyle we’re told we should have. In the rush, excitement fades, and emptiness takes its place. We hardly stop to ask: Do we really want this? Are these dreams ours, or are they borrowed from the feeds we scroll through every day?

The pressure to appear perfect only makes it worse. Social media constantly shows us flawless routines, smiling faces, beautiful families, perfect bodies. But can any life truly be perfect? Deep down, we know the answer. Yet still, we spray fake positivity over our struggles, like covering dirt with perfume and flowers so it looks acceptable from the outside. The more we live like this, the more it leaks out in other ways — fights on the road, conflicts at home, bullying at work, revenge in business and politics.

In Patna, the bodies of a 19-year-old youth, Subodh Kumar, and a 16-year-old girl, Lovely Kumari, were found on railway tracks. It is suspected to be an honor killing case after the couple eloped.

Two groups clashed on a busy service road in Ghaziabad over one vehicle driving on the wrong side. It turned violent: men using sticks and planks, pushing, shoving, bystanders watching. A video of the fight spread widely on social media.

A 31-year-old former security guard from Assam stationed in Model Town, Delhi, was arrested for allegedly molesting minor girls. The reported incidents took place over two days. This case shows the vulnerability of minors and how abuse can happen even in “everyday” settings.

The truth is, emotions don’t vanish just because we deny them. Anger, jealousy, sadness, emptiness — they are all a part of life. The real problem begins when we cannot hold them and end up dumping them onto others. It’s like carrying a hot coal and throwing it at someone else, only to realize we are still burned ourselves.

In Sector 53, Noida, a road rage incident went viral where a Mahindra Thar SUV hit a young man and flung him into a roadside drain. The conflict reportedly began from a feud on social media (Instagram comments) and escalated to violence on the streets.

We spend so much energy trying to understand others — their behavior, their words, their choices — but the only people we can ever truly understand are ourselves. Communication is never perfect anyway. Like in the movie PK, it says: “Sochte kuch hai, bolte kuch hai, karte kuch hai.” We think one thing, say another, and do something else altogether. Words carry a thousand meanings, reactions carry millions. But one thing is always clear: deep down, we know what we are feeling right now.

A rickshaw driver, angered after a female home guard asked him to align his vehicle properly, later returned with acid and attacked her. This attack was in clear revenge for a relatively small confrontation

And maybe that is where real mental wellness begins — with noticing ourselves. Watching our moods rise and fall, catching the shift in our tone, recognizing the tension in our chest before it explodes into a reaction. Once we begin to see ourselves honestly, we can pause. And that pause changes everything. That one breath between feeling and reacting can alter the outcome of an entire situation.

GTU (Gujarat Technological University), Ahmedabad: A professor SD Panchal was found guilty by a committee of sexual harassment charges and was dismissed from service with immediate effect.

Wellness is not about being cheerful all the time. It is not about hiding the ugly and pretending everything is fine. It is about being truthful — admitting when we are angry, when we are tired, when we are scared, and then choosing how to respond. Sometimes that means silence. Sometimes it means asking for help. Sometimes it means setting a boundary and saying, “This is not okay for me.”

This work is slow. It isn’t a one-time workshop, a viral reel, or a pretty quote on our timelines. It is the daily practice of being real, with ourselves first. It is stumbling, learning, and standing up again. And in that practice, we discover something important: life was never meant to be perfect. It was always meant to be human. Messy, unpredictable, filled with both light and shadow.

So maybe the real question is not, “How do we stay positive all the time?” but, “How do we live truthfully, even when things are not positive?” Because when we begin to ask that, we stop performing wellness — and finally start practicing it.

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