Arts
Sharing a bit of kindness with his 11.8 K followers
“Storytelling sets the right tone when delivering a message to capture the attention of an audience,” shares Sharan Velauthan, a Marketing Major at RMIT University, Australia. “I wanted people to resonate with my message and I wanted to leave them thinking.”
Sharan Velauthan
On February 20, 26-year-old Sharan was called to the TEDx Stage in Melbourne, Australia. With just two and ½ days of practice and following a tear-jerking speech by a speaker before him, Sharan was riddled with the jitters and a mild anxiety attack on stage. “I took my pauses, my deep breaths and my time,” he laughs in recollection.
His speech, aptly titled “Storytelling and its impact on Social Change” is an ode to his social media accounts. You can seek your daily dose of positivity on Sharan’s Instagram (@sharan_velauthan) as he spreads a 15-second message of kindness on his stories to his 11.8K followers.
All good self-discoveries start with getting yourself out of a negative space and not comparing yourself to others, Sharan affirms. “It took me a year, but it could take you a week, a day, a month or even a lifetime but you need to stop focusing on another person’s story and start living your own.”
So how did this social media thought leader make it to the big stage? It all started on Instagram in 2013 with random uploads of his dogs, food and travel. “I still love food and dogs,” he laughs, “it’s just that my priorities have changed.” This change happened after being in a “dark place” in his life. Having attempted suicide in 2018, Sharan is now on a mission to create awareness about the importance of mental health.
Leaving Sri Lanka to read for his Masters in 2018 at RMIT University in Melbourne Sharan started to learn more about mental health after receiving counselling on campus. “The best thing about therapy is that it’s a safe space for your problems to be taken seriously,” he says. Despite his progress however, “I still have panic attacks” he shares, adding that they creep up on him even if he still ends up having the best possible day.
Despite his vivacious social media personality, Sharan is a self-proclaimed introvert who takes time to cut himself off from the world to enjoy peaceful moments at the gym or playing video games. “Gym is my place of worship,” – it is a daily practice for him, he explains. “Mental health is my everyday fight – every day I tell myself I can let it win and take over me or I can stand up and fight it. Today I chose to fight it.”
Standing 5 ft 11 inches tall, Sharan may look ‘a macho-man’ but these are stereotypes he is determined to break. “I equate being brave with being vulnerable and kind,” he states and by using his social media accounts to share his own personal struggles and journey he slowly chips away at these toxic stereotypes to instead reaffirm that yes, in fact, ‘Boys Do Cry’.
He admits however, that by default he hesitates for a second before publishing something emotional. It’s the immediate response that keeps him going. “I want to influence people to take action, but it has to be something they can do in their own capacity. If something as small as a post also makes someone feel less alone then I don’t see why I should stop.”
As his core brand message transformed to ‘Be Kind’, Sharan admits that it adversely affected his social media growth. “I grew a lot more (followers) on social media when I wrote about food and travel,” but despite the loss of numbers, he’s still motivated to carry his message of positivity through even though this conversation change will not happen overnight.
On the toxicity of social media Sharan shares “I hate the term influencer! It’s become so twisted and now is equated to following the cool kids in school.” As ‘Sad-fishing’ (using emotions to gain more likes) and ‘Social media envy’ (comparing yourself based on others’ posts) have also become negative effects of social media “it’s hard to get your message across when you have to navigate around the white noise.”
Raised by a single mother, dealing with his parents’ divorce made Sharan grow up fast. It was his mother, his knight in a saree and pottu, who continues to leave a positive mark on his life. He reminisces, “I didn’t even know we were having financial difficulties until I was 23 – every year Santa always seemed to deliver.”
His social media campaigns “; survive” and the “the story behind the smile” are some examples of Sharan’s work in the cause of mental health. He encourages others to also come forward with their battles with mental health issues. Still in its infancy, “Reach Out” is another plan in motion involving a free counselling service in collaboration with mental health professionals in Sri Lanka.
Beach clean-up time
Sharan has also dived into eco-activism. Co-founding “Cosplay Clean Up Global” with Melbourne-based activist Lauren Sandeman, the duo has empowered local superheroes from various countries to rise up and clean their beaches. This fun initiative has taken place on beaches in Australia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia and they have collected an accumulated total of a tonne of non-biodegradable waste and plastic (Sri Lanka alone collected 514kg of waste).
Sharan himself doesn’t have a real-life superhero citing his Granduncle as possibly the closest thing he had to a role model. “I like to take good things I see from everyone and try to live up to those standards,” he shares. Despite his introverted nature, Sharan attributes the hard times he faced growing up as the reason he pushes himself to network. “I had to take every opportunity to sharpen myself,” he states, adding “If you want opportunity you need to put your hand up.”
‘Be Kind’ – to yourself and others is Sharan’s everyday mantra, which he embodies in his social media. These two words of positivity spark compassion in times like today, when it is most needed.