Senior Citizen Apartments

0:15 - 0:30

Introduction to the Show

When we think of retirement, we think of seniors in a particular way, and we need to change that way. This show is going to talk all about the idea of age being just a number. I'm going to get guests who have done this in the past, who have really lived a life from very, very lows to very, very highs. Welcome to a new show, Adding Zindagi to Years. I'm very excited to welcome my first guest, who has broken a lot of societal norms, gone through tough times, and is now known as the Silver Fox, Mr. Dinesh Mohan. Welcome to the show.

0:30 - 0:45

Guest Introduction

Welcome. Thank you so much. Good to have you here. Yes, I'm very excited. Same here. Whatever I saw and what I'm seeing now, wow, you look cool. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good to have you. I'm very excited about this show. We're going to be chatting about your life, and I hope your life will actually inspire a lot of people. I've seen some of your videos, and one of the things I learned was that in the early 2000s, you went through a lot of tough times. Let's start with your tough times a bit.

0:45 - 2:00

Dinesh's Struggles with Depression

Yes, I had to undergo certain difficult circumstances in my life. I'm sure everybody has those, but at that time, I couldn't take it in a manner that suited my circumstances more. I went into depression because of those. There were a few personal tragedies, and things went totally off track. Slowly, I started slipping into depression, and it became full-blown very soon, resulting in a lot of other ailments, medical and mental. This went on for quite a long time. 2000 was the dark year, so to say, in my life. A lot of people go through that. Tell me a little more about it. During this depression, what are the things that happened in your life from the perspective of health, family, and so on? I shifted my town. I was staying somewhere else and then shifted to Gurgaon at that time. I thought escaping that situation would make me free of all those things, but when you come out of the storm, that's when you sit down and start taking note of what all you have lost in your life. When I came here to this town, Gurgaon, and settled down here, I realized that I had lost a lot in life. My job had gone, my family had gone, my home had gone, and my finances were all gone. This pushed me deeper and deeper into depression because I was very young at that time, and everybody wants to be active and have an active life. But my circumstances were not conducive to a good life, and a lot of thinking and mulling over the past pushed me deeper into that dark hole. It was totally bottomless, very dark, and very difficult. Slowly, I realized that that was a good thing, that was actually the only good thing that happened, is that I realized that I might be suffering from some mental ailment because my reactions were not as they used to be before 2000. After that, my reactions became very negative, very self-defeating, very self-destructive. So, yeah, it was discovered that I have clinical depression. A lot of people know people who are in depression, and I guess everybody would know somebody or the other, either themselves or somebody in depression. This figuring out that your viewpoint was not the same before and after, how did you realize these things? Because it's a very difficult thing to realize for a lot of people. It is a very difficult thing to realize, but then I was always this above-average intelligent person, and I could realize that something wrong was happening with me. Every morning, you get up and decide, "Okay, today I'm going to face it," but then within an hour or so, you feel this down feeling, and you don't feel like getting up from your bed or doing anything, or even having your daily routine. Everything goes out of sync. So, it made me wonder, "What is happening to me? Should I seek some professional help or what should I do?" So, I talked to my family members that I'm not feeling normal because I feel like crying. All these things made me realize that, okay, and that was the first step, in fact, that I at least recognized. The lucky part was that I had people to communicate with. Communication was very important at that time. Were they telling you that you're depressed? No, no, no, no. This realization came from my side only because I could compare myself. Some people are, by birth, they have a certain nature, and they know what is so. I could realize that this is not me, this is not the person that I knew from always. And what is the reason why I can't? Everybody goes through struggles, everybody has difficult circumstances, but why am I not being able to cope up with whatever has happened to me? And why was I giving up? So, everybody has dreams, and dreams are what make you live your life. I realized that I'm no longer dreaming. I'm not planning my future. I'm not dreaming of a future. So, it was a very bad state to be in. You're existing, you're just trying to exist. So, that is what made me realize, yeah. I don't know what your family members were going through because a lot of times, if I see somebody in depression, I want to help out, but I don't know how to. And I don't know what your family support was like or questions like that on that side. They were all equally naive, I guess. They had not seen a depressed person ever before in their lives. So, they were also equally, you know, at this crossroads, how to deal with this, what to do. They were all trying to find out solutions as I was also trying to, but my solutions were different. The difference was that they were coming from a healthy mindset, and that is what helped me. Thank God for that. I was coming from this unhealthy thought process, and I was trying to, initially, I was trying to seek their pity. You get comfortable in a pitiful situation. You don't want to change your situation because people would come to me and say, "Oh," and this would give me some kind of validation. This is not of my doing, you know, that's okay. But very soon, I started realizing, okay, this is mostly your own doing too.

3:30 - 4:15

Dinesh's Recovery Journey

...They went for a toss. I was at my lowest point, and I thought, "Okay, this is it. I'm finished." But then, something happened. I don't know what, but something clicked inside me. I thought, "Okay, this is not happening. I'm not going to give up." I started with small things, very small things. I started with walking a few steps. I started with eating a little less, and that was a huge task in itself. I started reading a lot, and I started meditating. And slowly, very slowly, I started seeing a change. The change was very, very slow, but it was there. My body started responding. My mind started responding. I started getting better. I started walking more. I started eating healthier. And then, I started working out. I started going to the gym. And then, I started working out very seriously. And then, I started competing in bodybuilding competitions. And now, I'm known as the Silver Fox.

4:15 - 4:30

Dinesh's Message of Hope

So, my message to everybody is that it's never too late. It doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter what your circumstances are. If you have the will, you can do anything. You can overcome any challenge. You can turn your life around. And you can live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.