In what Universe are pain and blossoming synonymous?

“I don’t need therapy,” she snapped. “I don’t have mental health issues!”

The woman opposite looked confused.

“You don’t need mental health issues to see a psychotherapist.”

“Please,” scoffed the first, “therapy is for losers. People who are too weak to handle their problems.”

“In that case,” her companion replied tartly, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!”

This was part of a conversation I overheard in a restaurant recently. If they were friends before, I doubt they were friends after it.

If the energy hadn’t been so charged, I might have intervened… I’ve been known to have done so in the past, much to my ex-husband’s chagrin. But no way was I going there with this duo!

Which was a shame because…

It’s not weak to ask for professional psychotherapeutic help…

It’s a courageous move that takes guts!

Yes, you can talk to your friends, your sister, or your favourite aunt, but their advice will always be filtered through their lens; what they think they’d do or what they think you should do, albeit from their best intentions.

But they’re not trained to be impartial or have the skills to help you find your inner wisdom and the answers that are right for you.

They can’t help you uncover what’s for your highest good.

It’s true that people come to therapy with a pain caused by a problem or challenge they face. In some cases, it’s one they’ve sat with for a long time, like a slowly bleeding neck.

And then?

As Anaïs Nin wrote so powerfully…

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”