Navigating the New Normal

I have been privileged enough to study abroad twice and each time I decided to give the old Student Health Centre a try and more specifically, the Coounselling Centre of the two respective institutions. Both times, I only visited the Counselling Centre and both times, I was told that if I was unable to handle the situation on my or by using the resources available at that Centre, referral would be made, in my name to be utilized in a bigger public hospital. Well, of course, I sat through that particular session, for I was told the alternative at the beginning of the session and left, rather ceremoniously, to be left to my own devices.

The point of such an anecdote is to show how the foundation of a stigma is initially laid. Therefore, I can understand when people are worried to voice their wants with regards to certain kinds of professional care with stigma arising within the health care institution.

While my own visits to the Counselling Centre were motivated by a feeling of loneliness and to which I decided to overcome by some hand-picked, campus-organized events to socialize at.

There needs to be an understanding in an ever evolving world with the looking influence of Internet of Things, the basic needs such as companionship are still sought and sometimes it is appropriate to consider and soain in some good old fashioned company first.

However, the bigger point that I am trying to make is that an increasingly inter-dependent world that has seen the on-going process of globalization, stigmatization is itself a form of putting up boundaries and distancing oneself, which is the very opposite of what globalization entails. Furthermore, as demographic transition occurs and as the so-called developing countries see societal changes, there is a need to realize that along with adapting, evolving and changing, there is a need to allow each citizen to choose the aspects that will be adopted.

It should also be noted that one of the impacts of globalization in developing countries could very well be the same health burdens that are seen in more developed countries. The question that arises is whether the institutionalized health care system is able to cope with such health burdens over and above the health burdens that it already faces. Furthermore, focusing on the emulation of the economic trajectory of the more developed countries means that many of the so-called developing countries are also left to deal with the underlying resuts of such emulation. More specifically, the emulation in the economic sphere is also accompanied by changes in the social and cultural trajectories of such countries. Therefore, there is a need for serious consideration of the values that worked in the past for the developing countries such as giving the institutions of marriage and family a place as the effects of increasing globalization and economic growth are reconciled. Both the institutions of marriage and family are also continously evolving in the developed countries but their counterparts, albeit with modifications are still being embraced.

In a country such as India, especially in the urban areas, there is increased acceptance of the fact that women are working professionals with careers and a fixed routine that involves going to work everyday. However, these very same women must actively consider whether they are happy to live without the support system and the special kind of satisfaction that is ideally accompanied by marriage. In fact, nowadays, there is an increasing stigma against women who don’t work, for example as working and having a career is the new normal. However, at the same time, many social norms still exist, for exaample many men still want to marry women in their prime, in terms of age and child-bearing ability. Such clashes between established social norms and the on-going sweeping societal changes such as in the form of women working is creating a new form of stigmatization and cultural tension. Furthermore, one must begin to question whether cultural appropriation is supposed to be decided by the forces of globalization or ourselves as we figure out how best to balance the continuum between mind, body and soul.

Such a topic of Cultural Studies, especially as viewed in the context of globalization, is one that is close to my heart. Furthermore, for a person exposed to the literature on happiness as well as the literature on feminism, the world that I live in nowadays is one that prefers me to be "Another brick in the wall,” so to speak but I am beginning to place my own health first and seriously attempting to apply my education and exposure abroad, as after all application is one major component of education.