Sometimes, the person who teaches us most about how to live is someone we’ve lost.
For Arsalan, that person is his older brother, Aryan.
His brother encouraged him to think for himself and consider what he actually wanted out of life, rather than following the expectations of others.
One day, he came into Arsalan’s room, sat on his bed and asked, “What do you want to do in life?”
Arsalan answered that he wanted to be a doctor, a career choice heavily influenced by his mother. His brother stopped him.
“I don’t want that answer. I want you to tell me what you want to do in life, not what mom wants you to do.”
Years later, Arsalan still carries that conversation with him. Even while navigating his own struggles, Aryan reminded him to think about what it meant to be true to himself and build a life that felt like his own. Arsalan began to imagine a future beyond what he had always known, including coming to America to pursue his education.
In 2021, Aryan took his life at 18 years old.
“It was very heavy for me to process.”
For Arsalan, healing meant learning to sit with a loss that was difficult to understand and even harder to talk about. Therapy changed the way he understood grief and gave him a new perspective on what it means to live with loss.
When Arsalan started college at USC in 2023, growing around his grief took shape. He started diving deeper into advocacy work and saw what was possible when people showed up for one another through difficult moments.
This led him to Didi Hirsch, first as a volunteer crisis counselor and now as a Community Engagement Ambassador.
Through crisis counseling, Arsalan found a way to turn the helplessness he once felt into action. He learned that supporting someone in crisis isn’t about having the perfect answer. A simple act of listening and staying present can be the most powerful thing you can do to remind someone they’re not alone.
“This is the kind of work I want to dedicate part of my life to. I want to help people in this way because I wish someone was there for my brother.”
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
If you or someone you love is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal thoughts, you’re not alone—help is available 24/7. Call or text 988 anytime, anywhere. Chat is also available by visiting 988lifeline.org/chat.
