Real Life Sikh Stories - How Sikhi Helped Me Overcome Struggle!
I was blessed to be born into a Gursikh family where both my parents were quite disciplined Sikhs. My mother wore a Dastaar and so naturally I wore one too at a very young age. Like I started wearing one when my head was big enough to support a Dastaar. So I guess I’ve never been with out my Dastaar ever since. My mother taught me how to do Nitnem and I am very grateful. My parents are the real reason I’m a Sikh. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t thing about how blessed I am to have had my parents as my parents.
My family and I moved to Australia when I was 7 and to tell you the truth it was a huge cultural shock. We moved to a very small town where there weren’t any girls like me. I was really really different. There weren’t many Indians just my relative and my family. I was the only girl in my town or even the whole district, wait, even the entire region that wore a Dastaar. No one had ever seen a girl wear a Dastaar before. I was bullied like crazy in Primary school. I remember the time when I used to go to bed every night with tears in my eyes. I was discriminated against because of my Dastaar. Kids hated me. I never made any friend in primary school. Yr 7 was the lonest year I had ever experienced in my life. To make things worse I got the chicken pox and no one would talk to me even after I was no longer contagious. People were crazy mean. I thought that high school would be cool and less traumatising than primary school. There were a group of girls that made it their business to annoy me, to bully me to the point where I started to ask if my life was even worth it. They bullied me so much that I even started to believe what they said about me. My crown was my glory my pride the only thing that made me who I was. With out it I was nothing. But because of those people I never went out of my house even to go shopping. I know it may sound like weakness to some but I never had any sangat to guide me, to teach me that they are all just plain stupid and to just ignore them. I had to figure it out myself. I desperately needed sangat at that time. My parents were all that I had but I was stupid and I never told them anything. One day I got up. Did my Nitnem and jumped on my Computer and started typing about anything that my parents had told me about Sikhi. I spent ages and ages on the internet and I learnt so much about Sikhi and its rich history. My Nana ji and Nani ji had brought some books from India bout the Martyrs of Sikhi and Stories about my Gurus. So as an escape I read them over and over and over again. I read the heart breaking stories of my Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s Sahibzade and other great Gursikhs of my amazing faith. I read Bhai Radhir Singh Ji’s stories too. But my suicidal thoughts just grew and grew. I realise now that I was in depression. I cried and cried and got angry with myself. I seriously thought that I was the problem with this world. To this day I doubt my self all the time. I have serious self-confidence issues and can’t talk to new people easily but I’m really good at hiding that. I don’t care what those girls did to me, I’ve forgotten it already, but I will never forget how they made me feel. They really hurt me. I had never told anyone about my depression. I didn’t know what it was, really. The thing that saved me was when I went to Amritsar, I think. My Nani Ji had just passed away I was torn to bits at that point. My family and I went to the Dasbar Sahib and I got this crazy over whelming felling the first time I got a glimpse of Harmandir Sahib. I was home. I was seriously home. I was crazy happy. I didn’t even feel sad for the entire trip. I did my most important Ardaas to my Guru then and I told myself never again will I give anyone the power to hurt me. There was no special person that change my life no experience. Just my Guru. I told myself on that day that I was worth something. My Guru gave me this life and there are bound to be obstacles and huge challenges but I am a Sikh and Sikhs always remain in Chardi Kalla and get through thing like a BOSS! One thing that I learn though out my life is when you find Sadh sangat never let go of it. Never walk with a slouch, seriously. Walk with humility but with pride (never ego). Be kind and never forget who you are and never forget your Nitnem. Do ardass to Waheguru to keep you strong and in Chardi kalla everyday and you will become so strong that nothing can ever hurt you. - KK.