The mental health conversation at CGC nobody is having loudly enough

I'm posting this anonymously — except not really, because I'm putting my name on it. That's the point. If I post this with my name, maybe someone in a similar place reads it and feels less alone.

Third semester of BTech was the worst period of my life. Not the hardest academically — fourth semester had harder exams — but the worst in the sense of how I felt waking up every morning. I had a CGPA of 6.1 after my second semester.

I cried in the bathroom of the library twice. I stopped going to most of my labs. I slept 10-11 hours a day and still felt exhausted. My best friend from school was at an IIT and I spent a lot of time comparing myself to her in ways that made me feel like a failure.

What changed: there's a counsellor at CGC Landran — the sessions are free, they're confidential, and the waiting time is usually one week for a first appointment. I went once, half-convinced it would be useless. It wasn't. I went seven times over that semester.

My CGPA by the end of 4th semester: 7.2. Not because therapy fixes grades — it doesn't. But because I was functioning like a human being again.

If you're struggling: the counsellor's office is in the admin block, ground floor, left side after the staircase. You don't need a referral. You can just be having a hard time. That's enough reason to go.