It's almost the end of 2019, and I have been in therapy for 3 years. As someone who has been in therapy for this long, and has no plans of stopping anytime soon, I know firsthand how therapy can be life-saving.
If I'm being completely honest, if it wasn't for therapy, I wouldn't be here where I am today — or here at all.
And I know several people with similar experiences — who are in therapy for their mental health or to just have someone to talk to. So moving forward into 2020, I hope that therapy will continue to be normalized. It is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I would argue quite the opposite. It takes strength to force yourself to deal with your issues, and perseverance to work through them.
But therapy's not just for those dealing with mental illness.
Therapy can also help you to work through problems in your life and can help you get a new perspective on your problems and anything that has been weighing on your mind.
Of course, if you are suffering from any form of mental illness therapy can be your saving grace. But even if you're not, therapy can still be incredibly helpful. Whatever problems you may be having in your life — whether they be relationship problems, work, school, family issues, or any other kind of personal issue. Sometimes, you don't even realize how much something was weighing on you until you get it off your chest.
Many people may have behaviors or thought patterns that they don't even realize are harming them and it only when you're in therapy are you forced to confront them. This was definitely the case for me.
All of us have things about ourselves we would rather ignore — whether it be childhood trauma or some negative personality trait that is harming us or others.
Therapy forces you to face yourself in a way nothing else can.
When it's just you and therapist for 45 minutes, with nothing between you but your thoughts, you are simply forced to acknowledge things you otherwise never would have. And when this happens, you can then grow because this thing that's been holding you back has now been dealt with.
I know that personally, I have been forced to acknowledge the ways in which I hurt my relationships with others. In my case, I have discovered that I have a bad habit of projecting onto other people. Basically, what this means is that I had some personal insecurity that I wasn't aware of, so instead, it changed how I thought other people would perceive me. For example, I might have assumed that someone had a negative perception of me, even though that wasn't the case at all. The only reason I thought that was because I negative perception of myself- and because of this I assumed they must have, too.
This is an oversimplified version of my own story, but you get the idea.
Over the past year or so, I've seen more people discussing their mental health and therapy and social media, which is definitely a step in the direction. Once we see that other people are experiencing similar, it makes us feel less alone. But it's important to not only share your experiences but to get therapy if it's something you need. Trust me, it makes a world of difference.
