In 2016, Ashley Khalil, was diagnosed with depression and she admits that she had a hard time coping.
“…If anyone knows about depression, you feel like you are having a bad day. You have no self-esteem. My energy levels were low. Food, it was not appetising. I just wanted to be alone,” Khalil recalled last week.
The current reigning national squash champion and also a badminton player, Khalil says that at the time she even “lost interest” in playing both sports. “I stopped playing completely. Also, I had trouble sleeping, and I was put on medication to help me sleep, and when I was diagnosed with depression, I was put on anti-depressants,” she added. Things started to change for Khalil, however, when ‘Trixi’ entered her life. “In 2017, I got a new puppy, and I named her ‘Trixi’. She was a lot to handle, but she was extremely loving, and brought new meaning to my life. She always seemed to know when you are having a bad day, and would come to sit beside you. The amount of kisses she gives, the positions she sleeps in, her facial expressions, and when I am driving, the way she crawls up and sits between my neck and the headrest as though she has to look at the road while I am driving. She is my very own co-pilot”, Khalil said, smiling as she recalls the moments.