MILLESIMAL FEBRUARY 2O23

Dedicated, influential and classy influencer, actor and anchor, Ratnika's brand name is well known to deliver high quality videos, photoshoots, style inspiration and quality interactions in the luxury lifestyle niche. Competent in public speaking and now a Netflix webseries actor, Ratnika's eloquent presence is making a stark influential difference in the entertainment industry

Artist of the Month

RATNIKA VYAS ON BEING HER TRUE SELF AND GOING ON THE DREAM JOURNEY Tell us a little about yourself and What inspired you to pursue a career in the live events industry?

Hi! I’m Ratnika ! I live in Bombay.

I am a model, an actor and a social media influencer too. I love presenting on stage and communicating with audiences .

Hosting a Live event makes me feel like I’m the confident person I know . It can feel really scary in the beginning but once you get used to being yourself on the mic it’s a really fun job on a lot days.

How was it for you working as a lead in the netflix series Bonafide Bride?

It was brilliant .I loved getting dressed up as Meenakshi, a South Indian girl who aspired to look like a stunning beauty on the day of her wedding. I loved the experience of being on set and working with wonderful individuals.

The entertainment industry is said to be full of stress and pressure; what do you do to tackle the pressure that comes with your work?

A lot of things. I meditate, I do my Buddhist chants, I cook, I take myself out on a meal on a non working day, I absolutely love hitting the gym. I enjoy indulging in aromatherapy for my home , journaling at night on a bad day is really helpful.Also surrounding yourself with wonderful non industry friends is great unpaid therapy!

How do you think success has changed your life?

I feel like a very normal next door girl who doesn’t let attention get to her. The attention is a by product of the business we belong to but I just embrace it and focus on enjoying the process !

What would you suggest to the budding actors and artists out there?

It’s an adventure, it’s self belief, it’s fun. You have to come from a economically strong background for sure. As far as mental health is concerned it’s ok to have days you feel lost it’s absolutely fine. It’s all going to work out .I have worked three jobs to finally makeup my mind and allowed myself to navigate my way after encouragement from seniors. I don’t think that nepotism is real. You only get a job if you’re good at it.

Don’t let anybody discourage you. Keeping yourself happy is extremely important but it’s ok if you’re not ok and going to therapy is excellent practice irrespective. If anyone body shames you, go watch a film called Double XL that’s recently hit OTT. All parents should also see it .Ask yourself if you’re happy doing what you do in life and go after it. And lastly age is a number.

" it’s ok to have days you feel lost it’s absolutely fine. It’s all going to work out. I don’t think that nepotism is real. You only get a job if you’re good at it"

THE FEBURARY

EDITION

What does the future look like for you? What kind of roles would you want to do in the coming times? Tell us about your upcoming projects?

For now it’s busy , I’m enjoying shooting content for a lot of ad films ever since I’ve moved back to the city and anchoring selective shows for luxury brands . I’m letting acting take the course it has to :)

THE

HOBSON'S CHOICE OF LOVE

BY: ABHREKHA JAIN To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness. – Robert Morely February is often celebrated for being a month dedicated to and all about love. But February is not only and only about lovers; Ideally, but it is also a month for self-love and self-care, revamping relationships with family and friends, and loving others.

Albert Einstein once said, we cannot blame gravity for falling in love. Indeed, there is nothing more beautiful than to love and to be loved. It is truly amazing to see people whose heart have been broken but still believes in love. Sometimes we might fall in love with wrong one, but that “wrong” prepared us for the “right” one.

Being a genuinely good person does not guarantee you fit perfectly in the life of every person you meet. To love who, you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.

Self-love is not selfish, it's quintessential.

It's good for you, for your health, and at the end of the day, it is extremely beneficial for your friends and family around you. You will see that if you love yourself more, you will feel content and have more opportunities and even your relationship with others will improve.

Is self-love a life skill?

Self-love is a life skill that will help you improve your relationships and be happier and healthier. If you're not happy with yourself, it's not going to matter how much other people love you, you will continue to feel sad and demotivated.

Love is such a verb and the only person who can truly give or receive love is you. Remember self-love is the source of all our other loves. You must love yourself before you love anyone else in this world.

By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.

You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level. Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give, and nobody will care for you.

What is the power of self-love?

Self-love motivates you to make healthy choices in life.

When you see yourself considering high esteem, you are more likely to choose things that nurture your well-being and serve you well. This would enhance your confidence and enable you to live a happy and content life.

Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it.

You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.

What are the dangers of self-love?

Anything in excess and irrationally done is dangerous. Person who subscribes to self-love too much risks developing a mindset that putting themselves first is always right and valid. An unhealthy view of self-love might lead to a life of pride and arrogance.

Therefore, people should understand the difference between self-love and selfishness.

While self-love is a positive affirmation where we think about ourselves along with others, selfishness does not take consideration of others and often result into unhappiness and resentment.

All people deserve your kindness, but none more so than you. This new year promise yourself to treat yourself number one priority and ensure your mental health is as good as your physical health. Just begin by doing what works and is convenient for you, because there will always be somebody who thinks differently. Remember that you are powerful, provided you know how powerful you are!

How to understand self-love?

While I know each one to their own, I would still like to mention few best practices perhaps, define self-love to stay happy and motivated almost all times in every situation.

Self-care: Plan your day and take out time to do something you love and would rejuvenate. I make sure to listen to good music, go for walks and pursue my hobbies over the weekend.

Engage: Try to look around and notice at least one beautiful, small, and simple things around you every single day. Make note of it and be grateful for it. Right engagement of thoughts not only gives your perspective, but it’s also essential to help you find joy.

Let go: Don’t be afraid or feel sad about letting go of toxic people in your life. You need to be surrounded with positive and happy people and should stay away from negative, ever complaining, and dishonest people.

Forgiveness: Holding on to regret, pain, and resentment hurts others. But it also hurts you immensely. When you feel any of these emotions, just sit for some time, accept those for that time being and then let it go off completely as if it will stay it would act as slow poison and will destroy you from within gradually. It affects your mood and how you treat everyone, including yourself.

Therefore, just try to forget and forgive.

Listen Yourself: Always use positive self-talk, it’s easy to get caught up in being overly harsh and critical of your perceived failings. This negative, unproductive self-talk can lower your overall confidence and self-esteem. For example, if you are repeatedly telling yourself that you are not a good person then it becomes very hard to find motivation to take steps toward self-improvement. Also, do not reject your fears but process them, accept, and understand them. This is also very instrumental in having good mental health.

Optimistic: We should try and find positive in just everything. I know at times situations are beyond our control, however, to react or ignore to such situations is certainly in our hands.Try different mechanisms like deep breathing or meditations in overwhelming situations, they will help you calm down, feel better and give a better positive perspective to the situation not in your favor otherwise.

Value: Always value your blessings. Have a sense of gratitude, do not count of things what you don’t have but try to the best in what all you have. Whenever I am stuck in a difficult situation, I try to think the best possible options to resolve it and then align my action accordingly. You might have probably heard it a billion times, but keeping a gratitude journal of what you are thankful for or feel lucky about can have a big effect on your mindset Exuberant: Always try to stay happy and cheerful. You are anchor of your family. If you are happy and cheerful, then only can you make other happy around you. Your family and friends will also resonate with your emotions, and you would feel the real happiness within.

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey

DAISY TANWANI FOUNDER OF SHOP DAISIE DEMYSTIFIES VEGAN FOOTWEAR

Monthly Magazine

Tell us a little about you and how Daisie Store came into existence and what’s the story behind your business?

About me, I am an extremely fun person. I operate behaviorally. I'm not planned at all & I have tried to make this my advantage instead of it being the opposite.

So yes, Impulsive could be a right term to define my personality & thus that attribute guides majorly all decisions of my work & infact personal life as well ~ Good, bad, credit goes to this attribute.

So my entrepreneurial journey started when I was 16, I realised way later that it was out of utter passion for business & never a certain niche. At 16, I started selling chocolates in my school, and borrowed 1200 rupees from my mother the first day, and I multiplied it into 5000 literally the next day,and then I kept multiplying it.

So as little as that to a lot of more things that came in between, led my journey to Daisie ~ My Vegan footwear brand. With no regrets , I had a lot of good experiences trying out some business ventures before my journey here in Daisie & I feel there is so much I have learnt (good bad) which makes me a better business person & a human as well.

How did we start Daisie Ahhhhhh ~ It’s always refreshing when I think of it.

As quick the decision was, now when I look back, I see there is a journey of coming to that decision too. Well when I was 18, Passed out my school, I started a venture on Instagram which was a thrift store. I use to travel to Delhi, shop stuff & get 10-15 bags literally all alone, even untill then I didn’t know why - The purpose of it. There was something that kept me going but what I didn’t recognise even then.

Didn’t know it would hit some really good numbers in business & sales & there we were, with some 30,000 followers on Social Media & with some 6-7 Lac revenue monthly. & there I met this guy who worked in a Courier company that i use to ship my products from.

Monthly Magazine

He was keen to know what I do, what I sell seeing the unprofessional packing I did at that time, made him keener I suppose. He called up, set up a meeting & I did go. It was all meant to be - He had a side hustle which he wanted to grow - it was a Punjabi jutti brand- He offered me to work with him & I said Yes. I can probably call it immaturity to pick that up because I was all-ready on to something of my own as well but how can I even expect maturity from a 18 year old funloving, carefree & probably lucky girl ( that I was doing everything out of passion & not survival) - I can’t deny that having a good backing gave me that leverage to try out things with a free spirit & no financial responsibilities to own up to.

Long story short~ I worked for this jutti brand for about 3 years eventually fading away the work of my own & there were lot more distractions which if I mention here ~ I know you won’t believe how UNSTABLE someone can be. But again, with no regrets, this 26 year old mature (I mean maybe I can call my self that 😋 now) is super proud of that unstable immature girl who wanted to try it all. So that’s how one day I finally decided to start Daisie Found some manufacturers, did sampling & we started our journey.

What inspired you to start a vegan footwear business?

With all honesty, Making a vegan brand wasn’t a conscious decision, Initially, I had this decided that I wanted to cater products that fall in an affordable mid segment range & when we did R&D, Vegan products which are also called as Pu, artificial leather fall in that price segment, followed by this it also became my conscious decision that if we can do the best of designs, put up best of trends without using animal product, why not take this up consciously.

What is Daisie’s design philosophy and who is your customer?

The only design philosophy I would say Daisie has is to be able to cater to trends, to market needs to get fashion footwear accessible.

I would rather choose to sell what consumers want rather than sell what I want. From a business angle- this philosophy always adds up in numbers.

There is one thing which is extremely valuable even in our design philosophy & that is Comfort~ we always try to incorporate comfort in our designs. We understand how limited the number of footwear people have in comparison to clothing & the repeat usage of the footwear is so that comfort has to be the key.

IE S I A D SHOP

Tell us about vegan leather and animalfree leather alternatives that you use for your footwears?

We use material like faux leather, PU, artificial leather for our products.

What are the top five shoe styles that are a must-have in every woman’s wardrobe?

I think every woman should own two good pairs of flats which are extremely comfortable & her go to slides - one which she can wear in her errands, regular wear etc & another one, she can style it up with probably Indian wear as well.

So one traditional flats and one casual flats.

Apart from these,A pair of Boots are a must have. Currently platform heels are something that are being loved so much @ Daisie , I suggest one should have that too & why shy away from a good pair of comfortable heels.

Monthly Magazine

Handling a business is tough, what keeps you motivated and how do you deal with stress and big challenges ?

Oh, I think this answer is prerecorded in my mind & I can just blabber about it. It’s important to invest in right people, it’s important to have a team to help you through your back end work. It’s very crucial to realise that your time has a different value & the works which can be done with a value of way lesser ( as in someone who can do for you) This shouldn’t be taken lightly.

A lot of times & It’s not like I would have not done it, It’s important to have a team.

Period. A lot of small business & startup do a lot of small stuff which is good but only for a limited time ( to probably just learn & grow & know how things operate at the backend) but not untill the last, There are sources to take help even if brand can’t hire people at huge costs. Interns, Part times & so much more.

Umm! Ofcourse when we try to look at difficulties, I don’t think I would say none.

But to be honest, I wouldn’t say it has been a tough path.

I feel I love what I am doing, I am lucky to be able to do what I am doing & I couldn’t be happier & grateful.

Monthly Magazine

Wouldn’t lie - Stress is something we all feel- I think I just know not to let it overpower me. I know how to allocate & align my stress into solutions so that stress rather takes up a back seat & solutions become the priority. Only one solution which I have for stress management is - Problem management- as soon as this is worked upon, It’s going to be better. YOU HAVE TO BE SOLUTION ORIENTED Challenges- I feel I am very optimistic, so when I am asked about questions like stress, challenges etc I feel, Why do I not have very strong emotions for these terms. Then I think is it because I have a fall back option always or rather I am no one’s fall back, but always I come up to this answer that it’s about mindset, I don’t see life like that, if I would have I would have found reasons. but when I am introspecting with a bird’s eye view I would say, A lot of times you burn in money & then learn what works for you, that is a challenge of-course because you can doubt on what you are doing when it doesn’t gives you expected fruits but to sustain that period is of-course a challenge. Dissolving your ego of what you want to do & what market needs can also be a challenge. The journey of understanding your customer is a challenge.

But my take on it is ,what is not a challenge? Ye sab to chalta rahega.

What has been your biggest "a-ha" moment?

So my biggest AHA moment has been honestly, numbers. Once my business started seeing good numbers, it was crazy. I was startled. I was like, God, this is my journey. I'm at it, I'm doing good, and this is what all I have dreamt of and ofcourse sole purpose of business is to make money, No one can take away this fact and when I saw my business doing good numbers, I felt satisfied, I felt assured.

How can our readers connect with you if they wish to place an order?

So our readers can connect with us on our Instagram. We would love to have you on our official page. We are at approximately 25,000 followers & we are excited to see you on the other side. We are also placed on some major platforms like Myntra, Nykaa,Aza & more.

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CONVERSATION ON MENTAL HEALTH WITH DR. RASHI AGARWAL @DRRASHIPSYCHISTRIST

Tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, I'm Dr. Rashi Agarwal. I am a psychiatrist, content creator, a mental health educator, as well as a sex health educator. So I strongly believe in how the interpersonal issues as well as the biopsychosocial factors affect our own mental health. So besides, aside from just stemming from our genetics or the environment, I feel it's a lot dependent on what people around us or what are the circumstances. And I love working with hormonal issues in women and how it affects their mental health on XYZ levels Mental health, like physical health, affects all of our lives; however, we may talk or think about it differently. Can you share what mental health means to you?

First if we go by the definition of health. So WHO defines health as physical, mental, social Wellbeing? So that is important even for our overall health and if we consider it depending upon what mental health specifically means. So mental health does not just mean absence of mental health issues or absence of illness in your mental health.

It also means that you are able to be productive on both a physical, psychological, personal and a professional level. Not just that you are not sick, but you are well to the capacity that you are working at your utmost level. Like, this is the best that I could be. This is the person that I want to be and the things that I am capable of doing. So reaching my fullest potential in terms of also maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a good physical health is what is mental health to me and over and above all, being content with who and what you are.

How can we promote wellbeing and tackle the causes of mental health problems?

The only thing that came out of COVID I would say is that the people had time on their hands to sit and realise about their mental health. So yes, the awareness about mental health has surely increased but the first and foremost thing people keep on asking is why do you want to spread so much awareness about mental health? And why don't you just focus and stay in your lane about treating mental health issues? So the biggest problem with mental health, or I would say psychiatry, is that this is the only branch where the illness, the psychiatrist like the mental health provider as well as the patient everybody is equally stigmatised. So until unless there is awareness on a larger level, it is difficult to start identifying and diagnosing people. So forget about treatment. We are not even able to have this penetration into far and wide areas. So until we realise what is the problem, how are we going to start to treat it?

So awareness helps to reduce stigma a lot, which ultimately lets people open up and tell us about their issues. Only then help is possible. So I would say talk about it, share your experiences, make it a normal discussion within families or events.

Like we talk about a physical issue, like we talk about having a fever or a cold. Let mental health be that level that people are able to come out and talk openly about it. Only then we would say that we have normalised it, we have the utmost wellbeing that is possible. Hence we can now have a good estimate of what needs to be done. And when it comes to well being, therapy and medicine both work wonders depending on what the person needs at that time. the mental health professional, the psychiatrist will assess and then specifically designate things that are best for your case scenario. So it is a completely tailor made process and one needs to go through professional evaluation.

Have you ever had a case that was hard not to take home with you? How do you separate work and personal time to maintain your mental health?

I get this question a lot, how are you able to completely switch off your mind when you go back to home? So obviously, as human beings, I do not think it's possible 100% to leave everything at work. Even if we just take an example of a person who is working in an IT company, even there you are not able to leave your problems at work completely. You drag some of them home and you discuss it with your family. This happened, my boss said this and this and that.

So yes, there are some days when some particular incidents, some interpersonal issues or some kind of abuse or violence when you hear about it or you work with the patient to process it, because in this field you come across everything under the sun. So from the least to most utterly imaginable thing can happen in front of you and you have to be there for the person. Like that is your basic job. Yes, I would say this with a lot of privilege. I have a very supportive family system in place.

Plus, with time everybody starts developing some kind of a routine to unwind, be it going for a walk, going to the gym, having a good sleep, watching one or two episodes of a show, or switching on to the next one.

There are very few mental health professionals as compared to the number of people that need help. So usually there are back to back appointments. I would say somewhere you have to force yourself to stop thinking about the previous one and then jump over to the next one. It kind of becomes a process, I would say.

During the initial years it must be difficult for people to go through this phase. But eventually, I would not say you develop a thick skin, that is not possible. Emotions affect your day in and day out, but you develop a routine so that it is not affecting your mental health. There will be days still that you go home, you cry and you feel that what if you could do better? Like how could you make their life better?

Can you share any 5 tips for reducing stress in our day to day life?

Stress can be very different for people about what is actually stressing them. There are no banded options specifically on how we can reduce stress if it is an everyday ongoing thing. So until we go to the root cause of it, it is very difficult to stop stress completely. It is just about saying that if I have an infection and I'm just treating the fever that is because of the infection.

So the fever won't go away until the infection goes away.

But I would surely say that some very basic things to reduce stress are some day to day things that we could all start doing. I cannot stress this enough to have a healthy sleeping schedule. As you start getting older, you start realising how much your relationship with your sleep is important.

You need to have a good sleeping schedule. You need to know how much sleep your body needs, how much of a relaxation it actually requires. This varies person to person.Do I feel fresh in the morning whenever I wake up?

Is my sleep enough to recharge my energy? Sleep, sleep, sleep.

Depression is a chronic inflammatory condition so a lot of fast food develops this kind of a very subclinical chronic inflammation which could in future precipitate that. So yes, your diet has scientifically been proven to affect your mood on so many levels. Apart from this, having a good water intake when we are dehydrated, grumpy, angry and irritable, it is important to maintain a good hydration level.if you are in desk jobs. Just simple ten to 15 minutes of physical activity. Be it running, cycling, yoga, anything that suits you is important. Start moving your body and eventually you'll realise how much it benefits us. Then just day to day planning is also important, Balancing a rough schedule is also important as it lessens the burden on tomorrow, so it’s important to plan your days and weeks. This goes a long way in the future.

Apart from this, journaling could really help with that. So depending on your condition you could start a gratitude journal. You could start a negative thought diary, talk to your therapist, talk to a mental health professional and get help. Let's start working on a preventative level rather than a curative one so that we are in a better way to start correcting things before they go really bad. So these are little bit things that I try to practise in my day to day life, and I hope they are beneficial to you all.

What's your opinion, Does technology impact our mental health, and if so why?

Technology is something that has penetrated our lives to the level that I do not think it is possible for us or for the next generation to live completely apart from it.

So yes, like everything has pros and cons, technology surely is helping us in so many ways. But it is also impacting our health because we are too dependent, whether it is for entertainment, for resting, even this mindless scrolling. Specifically with the upcoming short video platforms, a lot of time wastage and a lot of this dopamine hit that we get by seeing the short videos and our inability to stop scrolling and just spending hours and hours into that negative loop, I would say that one completely gets and grows and loses track of time. So yes, it is impacting our mental health.

Plus, at the click of a button, we are very well aware of what everybody is doing all around the world. So previously, if people were able to compare themselves with their siblings or people who lived around us, now that circle somehow is expanded and you could start comparing your life to anybody and everybody in the world. So the kind of fomo that develops is surely very high because most of the time people are posting their happy moments, not what actually goes, the hard work or the hardship that goes behind it. Hence everybody's feeling left out all the time. And we all have somehow made this very dreamy life that everything needs to be aesthetic, everything needs to be perfect, everybody needs to travel or eat at so and so places.

Besides that, using a phone or any kind of gadget in bed also affects your sleep cycle a lot, as well as, like in the morning, phone is the first thing that people check.

Your mind is so fresh in the morning and you're exposing your mind to just mindless crawling. So we are also wasting a lot of our energy as well as time on the same.

Plus, due to this, the attention span has significantly gone down. We are able to concentrate less on things that require a prolonged concentration span because we are used to just switching over things quickly and if they do not interest us that much, we just give up on the scene.

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