The Point of All This…
Many people come to therapy with ideas about what success in therapy looks like. These ideas often stem from media portrayals of therapy, mental health content they've consumed, or past therapy experiences where they were told they could be “healed.” As a result, people often enter therapy with goals like getting “fixed,” healing from past trauma, or finding purpose in their lives. But what do these things really mean?
You’re not a broken thing, so you don’t need to be fixed. What does “healing” from your life experiences even look like? And what exactly is “purpose”? Are we all like Harry Potter, destined to fulfill some prophecy that gives our lives meaning? Purpose is an intriguing concept, and I’ll dive deeper into it in future posts. Many of my clients feel a great deal of anxiety thinking about a life without purpose, or they believe that today’s capitalist society has made our purpose to be endlessly productive, which only leads to more anxiety and depression, and less joy in life. But for now, let’s focus on this: What is the purpose of therapy?
The purpose of therapy is to help you build a relationship with yourself. Therapy offers you the space to explore your psyche and experiences, allowing you to form a deeper, more authentic relationship with yourself. YOU are the most important relationship you will ever have. It’s you, until the end. So, let’s work on making this relationship one you can trust and enjoy, so that you can navigate both the good and uncomfortable parts of life.
In my experience, many people don’t give much thought to their relationship with themselves. It’s essential to recognize that you have an active and often loud internal experience (for many of my clients, this is critical and negative) running at all times. If you’re only focused on your external experiences, you’re missing out on half of your life! Paying attention to your internal world—acknowledging what’s going on inside and deciding how to react—can significantly shape how you view and interact with the external world. They weren’t wrong when they said it all starts with you. It ends with you, too. Your relationship with yourself is the most important factor to building a meaningful, fulfilling, and compassionate life. Read my previous post on How to Feel to start learning first steps and book a free consultation with me if you’d like to dive deeper and start building that relationship through therapy.
