The Mental Compass

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Too Far to Turn Back? The Trap of Sunk Costs

A specific kind of decision gets harder the longer we stay with it. You know the course you chose is no longer serving you. The relationship has become exhausting. The friendship no longer feels right to continue. Yet, instead of asking whether you still want any of these things, your mind returns to a different question: But after everything I’ve already put into this, how can I just walk away? Sometimes, the hardest part of letting go is not losing what we have but accepting how much we have already invested. This is where the sunk cost fallacy enters the picture. When the past starts making today’s decision A sunk cost is something we have already spent, like money, time, effort, or emotional energy, that cannot be recovered. Rationally, once something is gone, it should not determine what we do next. The useful question is supposed to be what the available options look like from this point forward. Psychologically, however, the past does not disappear so neatly. Research by Hal Ark...

1,73,000. No, it is not the average urban youth’s daily screen time, a complex figure in India’s GDP report, your favorite fashion influencer’s follower count, or the price tag on a luxury designer handbag. It is 1,73,000 kilograms or roughly 173 tonnes of municipal solid waste produced globally every single minute. Within that massive waste stream, the fashion industry plays a devastating role: a garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second. Wait, what? Read that again. In the time it took you to unlock your phone and scroll through my opening lines, the world discarded truckloads of low-quality clothes in incinerators and dumpsites. Yet we treat haul videos and impulsive shopping carts like harmless habits. We have all felt the thrill, right? It starts late at night, when you see a pop-up on an ultra-fast-fashion app like Meesho advertising a cheap linen co-ord with a ticking timer: “Flash Sale: ₹299 for the Next 12 Minutes!” Your finger twitches. You ad...

Written By : Ms. A. Gayathri Special Educator and Academic Consultant A. Gayathri is a seasoned education professional and special educator with more than two decades of experience in inclusive education, learning disabilities, counselling, and psychotherapy. She has served as a special educator, NIOS consultant, lecturer, vocational trainer, and educational consultant across reputed schools, universities, and trusts in Tamil Nadu. Her work reflects strong expertise in special education and teacher training. She has been honoured with multiple state and national awards for her outstanding contributions to the field of education. Every child learns differently. Some children grasp concepts quickly through reading, while others understand better through visuals, activities, repetition, or practical experiences. When a child faces learning difficulties, parents often feel confused, anxious, or unsure about where to begin. The most important step is to understand that learning difficu...

Peer pressure is a major fact in adolescent life. While teens know in theory what to say to drugs, sex, and unhealthy choices, in practice the actual word 'no' almost hurts to spit out, and psychologically the pain is there, and if you know and acknowledge this, you are likely to stay safe without alienating friends. Why peer pressure feels so strong in the teen years. The adolescent’s increased sensitivity to what others are saying can be observed with brain-imaging techniques. Reward centers and centers that respond to social stimuli in the adolescent's brain light up when they are in a peer group. The significance and excitement experienced within a peer group of friends make being included or excluded from this circle of friends feel so profound. Research within social neuroscience has indicated that within experimental situations, social rejection and exclusion experienced by the adolescent can affect brain regions, including those associated with the processing of ph...

When was the last time you paused and looked back at all the beautiful things life has offered? Shouldn’t that be part of our daily routine? Shouldn’t that be something that comes naturally and not be something that needs a reminder? Gratitude is considered so important that there is a day to celebrate and to remind us to be grateful. On September 21st, World gratitude day is celebrated and this idea of world gratitude day originated in 1965 during thanksgiving dinner in the meditation room of the United Nations building. Sri Chimnoy, a spiritual leader and meditation teacher, suggested a day of thanks the whole world could celebrate together. But what difference can a small gratitude make? There are research studies which proves the big change small gratitude can make. Research done by Ayesha Rashid and Palwasha Nasir Abbasi (2025) found that gratitude increases life satisfaction. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA) gratitude can increase...

We have all had that moment when someone shows us a picture and says, “Isn’t this beautiful?” and we quietly think, Not really. The same thing happens with movies, music, paintings, architecture, clothes, food presentation, even people. One person can stare at a minimalist room and feel instantly peaceful, while another wonders why anyone would willingly live in a room with three chairs and a blank wall. One person gets emotional listening to a classical melody, while another reaches for the skip button within ten seconds. So, is beauty really subjective? Apparently, our brains have a much more complicated answer than a simple yes or no. This is where Neuroaesthetics enters the picture. It is an interdisciplinary field that explores what happens in the brain when we experience beauty, art, music, design and other forms of aesthetic experience. Instead of asking only “What is beautiful?”, neuroaesthetics asks, “What happens inside us when something feels beautiful?” And the answer invo...

DIRECTOR : K V GUHAN CAST : THRIGUN, RESHMI MENON, NARAYAN, SHARRAN KUMAR AND OTHERS "Inidhu Inidhu" (2010) offers a heartfelt portrayal of the vibrant yet complex world of college life, focusing on a diverse group of freshmen who come together amidst the challenges of adapting to a new environment. The film captures the joy of friendship and camaraderie, but it also subtly explores the psychological struggles that many youths face during this transitional phase. As these students, from different states, navigate ragging, academic pressures, and social expectations, they experience a range of emotional responses, highlighting the importance of mental health awareness in such settings. The characters’ interactions reveal underlying issues such as anxiety, peer pressure, and the fear of not fitting in, which are common among college students. The film’s depiction of ragging, often seen as a rite of passage, also hints at emotional trauma and stress, emphasizing the need for su...

Ever happened that everytime you and your friend listen to a song together and you feel the music cutting through your skin and bones and giving you goosebumps while your friend wouldn't be bothered at all? Or every time you enter a bright room, it pierces your eyes or gives you a headache while everyone else is completely fine? Do you often find yourself immersed in stuff so deep that you point out things others usually miss out? You too might've marvelled at the way two different people go on to experience the same thing differently. This is brought by your levels of 'sensitivity' which determines how easily your senses catch something going on in your environment. It's your threshold or boundary at which you let an external object register on your mind. The colors Some of us act like prisms, absorbing and breaking a single beam of light into a wide spectrum of varying colors and feeling each one of its colors intensely while the others only see a single, stead...

“I’m fine.” Two simple words we often say when someone asks, “How are you?” Sometimes they are true. Sometimes they are simply easier than explaining what is really happening inside us. When we are exhausted, overwhelmed, heartbroken, or struggling, finding the right words can be difficult. So we give the familiar answer and move on. “I’m fine” can become a shield. Not because we want to deceive others, but because we may not be ready to talk, may not know how to explain what we feel, or may worry about how others will respond. Why Do We Say “I’m Fine”? There is no single reason. People may hide distress for different reasons. We Don’t Want to Be a Burden : Some people worry that sharing their problems will burden others. Others may have learned to handle everything on their own. When vulnerability feels like weakness, asking for support can become difficult. We Don’t Have the Energy to Explain : Sometimes, the hardest part is not feeling the emotion—it is explaining it. When we ...

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The Mental Compass

Posts

Listening to Lived Experience: Building Inclusive Mental Healthcare

Too Far to Turn Back? The Trap of Sunk Costs

How Fast Fashion Is Destroying You (And the World)

THE NIOS NAVIGATOR - Navigation Journey Phase 5 : Guidance for Parents Navigating School Support Systems for Children with Learning Difficulties

Why Saying 'No' Physically Hurts: Peer Pressure and the Teen Brain

The Power of Gratitude: Simple Practices to Enrich Your Life

Is Beauty Really in the Eye of the Beholder? What Neuroaesthetics Tells Us

Screen, Verdict Film Analysis - Inidhu Inidhu (2010)

The World And Its Colors: Diversity In Sensitivity

When “I’m Fine” Isn’t the Whole Story: Finding the Words to Ask for Support