How we see ourselves vs. how the world sees us.

“Doh!”

It’s a cliche in therapy marketing “Reaching out to talk to a therapist is a huge step, and takes courage.” And its cliche because it’s true! 

Reaching out to a therapist for the first time takes guts, is scary, and is a bold step towards growing and healing. So you can imagine that As a therapist myself, I take responding promptly and thoughtfully to messages from perspective clients very seriously.

“New Client Inquiries”, the spreadsheet title in my google drive looked unfamiliar. It was something I created when I first launched my website and it hadn’t been opened since 2021.

 Upon clicking through, a huge pit became lodged in my stomach as my eyes darted between the messages sent by a handsome number of people reaching out to me in a time of need.

To make matters worse, my recent assumption that my marketing efforts weren’t  working has been driving me nuts. I’ve been driving my partner crazy with conspiracy theories about my photo, my messaging, my networking.  

This internal reality left me feeling guilty, disappointed and like a failure. 

However, after investigating the situation further, I found this glitch  in my website's contact form - on which prevented me from getting these messages. 

This has been a hugely valuable lesson for me about the power of our internal perceptions. The guilt and disappointment I felt were based on assumptions that turned out to be wrong - and in a void of information I assumed the worst.

I’m reminded how easily we can misinterpret or distort the feedback we get from life, and our assumptions can lead us astray, even feeling depressed.

I also learned that acknowledging my mistakes and taking action on them is essential for growth. (I emailed each person back with a personal note hoping they had received support and if I could be a resource in any way.) 

Sometimes, the best thing we can do is have a good belly laugh at ourselves and our mistakes, and remember we're all human. Group therapy can be an ideal environment for this type of reflection from others.

If you feel like sometimes you misread situations and assume the worst, therapy is great place to work through that, so reach out directly via email, phone/text, or through my website… your inquiry will not be missed!