Therapy is the Gift We Give Ourselves

People who need help often look a lot like people who don’t need help.

Glennon Doyle Melton.

Therapy is a time where we are not taking care of anyone else. We are taking care of ourselves, giving us the gift and opportunity to focus on us. What we think, what we feel, what we want, what we need. Just like a massage is a way of taking care of, and soothing our body, therapy is a way of taking care of our emotional body and massaging our souls.

A Gift We Give Ourselves

So many of us turn to therapy to help us find a way of balancing job, career, intimate relationships, family and self. Some of us turn to therapy to receive help with more effectively managing our stress.

Others seek therapy to help develop better communication skills within a relationship with our partner. Some of us want to become better parents and find that therapy is an arena to share frustration and develop improved parenting skills.

Some of us seek therapy because we are going through a life transition and want to find a smoother way to move through it and explore possible new avenues.

Some of us feel that there’s something missing inside even though our lives externally appear to be working and we want to discover what that is to live a more fulfilled life.

Everyone Needs Help Sometimes 

For many of us asking for help feels hard, and sometimes impossible. If asking for help from a loved one and from friends seems difficult, then it is no wonder that asking for help from a psychotherapist, or couple counselor feels daunting.

We live in a culture that overtly, or covertly, states that independence is to be revered and defines independence rigidly. The reality is, we can still be independent men and women and need help sometimes.

Some might feel that taking care of our mental health needs on our own is a sign of strength, and that seeking help with a therapist, or counselor, is a sign of weakness. Often needing help is confused with being needy. They are not the same. We all need help at times and deserve to have it. 

No Crisis Required

Therapy has become less of the ‘dirty little secret’ that we don’t talk about. I love how therapy has become something that many of us are more accepting and open to. Psychotherapy is no longer only something someone seeks when in a crisis, or when we have experienced trauma, depression, panic attacks or a major loss.

Therapy has now become something that is sought out, and embraced, for non-crisis oriented life experiences. Every day, normal experiences—which are just as important. 

Discover more tips on how therapy is the ultimate way of taking care of ourselves in my complete article.

My hope for you is that you give yourself the gift of reaching out to someone, or asking for help. You care for everyone else, make sure you make time for yourself.