This page looks at whether mental health struggles are genuinely rising or if we are simply more aware of them today. It also explores a practical middle path: honouring the pain without letting it trap you.
It is a fair question, and you are not alone in wondering this. There is some truth that when we constantly label every low mood or difficult thought as a mental health problem, we can start to live inside that label — checking ourselves for symptoms, reading about disorders, and making the pain feel bigger than it is. But that does not mean the pain itself is not real. The reason we talk more about mental health today is partly that awareness has grown, and partly because life in Pakistan — with its financial pressure, family expectations, and very few professional resources — has always been hard; we just did not have words for it. So the real question is not whether we are making it up, but how to hold the pain lightly and still live your life.
Acknowledge without drowning You are right that the best way is not to suppress the feeling and not to live inside it. The middle path is this: let yourself notice the pain — "Yes, this is hard, my chest feels tight, I am sad" — and then immediately pick one small, practical thing to do next. That could be making a cup of chai, sending a text, stepping outside for two minutes, or even just sitting up straight and breathing once. The trick is to name the feeling without narrating a story around it. The story is what keeps you stuck; the name lets you move on.
A practical shift, not a quick fix If you find yourself always "in your head", try this: set aside five minutes at the same time each day to do absolutely nothing but feel what you feel. No phone, no music, no thinking about solutions. Just sit with whatever comes up. After those five minutes, get up and do your next task. This way you are neither ignoring yourself nor letting the feelings take over the whole day. Over time the mind learns that pain can be felt and still let go. It is not about "moving on" as if nothing happened — it is about carrying the weight without letting it stop you walking.
If this feels too hard to do alone, Zara is here to talk through it with you. The goal is not to become a person who never hurts, but a person who hurts and still lives.
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