Hamza - known as Humz - can recall the moment his life hit rock bottom on Christmas Day
Hamza watched the last person walk out of his student flat. The door closed behind them and that was it. The party was over.
“They were all getting on with their lives. They couldn’t go out the next day or the day after that, that was the difference. However, all that changed when he left sixth form and decided to take a year out to travel. Instead of seeing the world, his constant partying took his mental health on a downward spiral – leading him to a very dark place.
As Humz continued to abuse drugs and alcohol, mental health problems began to appear. He began experiencing feelings of depression and social anxiety, often struggling to hold conversations with others. “This was the most difficult time of my life,” Humz added. “I had all of that on my plate while I was in such a fragile place – I don’t even know how I managed to get through it.”
The following September, in an attempt to rebuild his life, Humz enrolled at the University of Bristol to study social policy. Although he hoped the move would have a positive impact, it only made things worse. Desperate to turn his life around, Humz sought help through the university’s mental health services. The university decided to give him a second chance and he managed to get back on track with his studies and graduated with a first-class honour's degree.
“Most of my time in halls was spent getting f***** up,” he continued. “It often centered around my room. I was the ‘main guy’ in halls and all of it was feeding my ego a lot. From then on, his self-care journey really began. He even took up meditation – sometimes meditating for an hour and a half at a time – and began visualising a different future featuring a very different Humz.
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