Youth’s Struggle

When I was elementary school I remember meeting this boy on the playground. He told me about how everywhere he went, a dark and joyless feeling followed him. He described it to me as a rain cloud, which followed him from recess and back home. I was so naive and young that I barely understood him. The bright colors and the cartoonish faces are reminiscent of our childhood. The little boy on the playground struggled with his mental health and had depression. The only way he could explain it was a rain cloud that followed you. Rain and the sun became a symbol in this artwork. Rain represents struggling in the darkness while the sun represents happiness and joy. An umbrella’s purpose is to shield someone from the rain. A person’s help and guidance have the same effect on a child that an umbrella does. Now older and less naive, I know what that little boy was talking about. Now I understand how important it was that someone believed him and gave him an umbrella. And, I now realize that there are more kids like him. 1 out of 5 kids struggle with mental health. 1 out of 5 kids need to feel sunshine. Every child deserves to feel the sun.

Pranitha Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, India. Ever since she can remember her life has been a huge adventure of living in country after country, which led her to experience different cultures from a very young age. It’s this international perspective that made her so interested about mental health. She now runs a website with several mental health related resources and information for teeangers like herself. She is currently a high school student in Malaysia that loves to read and creatively express herself in any way possible.