Therapy Gives Me Power No One Can Take Away

Seeking mental health care gave me a sense of purpose and peace.

Once upon a time I felt fine! Well put-together and living the best version of me, I was pretty fantastic! I’d heard of mental health therapy, but that was for people with big problems. Granted, there were probably a couple tiny things I could improve here and there, but nothing I needed to lay on someone’s couch for while I sobbed into tissues about my issues. Not interested! If I encountered road blocks in life I was smart enough to figure them out. I’d dodge, adjust and roll with the punches. After a persuasive self-pep talk, I’d then wait for people to change their ways, and stand by for opportunities to float in my direction. I could always count on life’s pendulum to eventually swing my way. Ebbs and flows baby, ebbs and flows.

But a couple of years ago I experienced an extra rough season with no end in sight and entered an uncharted river of perpetual disappointment. Something was wrong. The pendulum wasn’t rotating my way often enough and helplessness became a familiar companion. Good and stuck in a funk, I figured I’d pop in for a couple of therapy sessions, reset my attitude, and be on my way. But that “pop in” lead to so much more. It was the first day of a mental health journey that would change everything.

I sought therapy looking to change my situation, but instead learned how to change me. After several sessions, it became evident that my prior self had some major blind-spots and stunted growth. People weren’t the problem. Situations weren’t the problem. My issue was that I was always waiting for change instead of being the change I needed. Unbeknownst to me, I often showed up to my life as a back-seat passenger — fully unaware, yet naively complacent in my own powerlessness. At times, my ride didn’t even show, and I found myself on the curb wishing for any old jalopy to scoop me up.

Motivated and eager to be more than just a passenger waiting on a Lyft, I committed to a weekly therapy plan that ultimately pushed me into the driver’s seat of my life and taught me how to grab the pendulum myself.

Mental health therapy didn’t just help me through my issues, it introduced me to my utmost inner potential. It offered me a unique and…