We are all just human
I often tell clients that one of the best parts of my job is that I get to see how universal our struggles as human beings can be. We all have different personalities, backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, etc. Even with all those differences, we often struggle with the same feelings. Feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, disappointment, needing to belong, feeling under lover or over loved (shout out to all the helicopter parents in the back!), repercussions from abuse, fears related to loss, mortality, safety, and emotional injuries acquired during those important developmental years of childhood. I so often sit across from clients getting to feel as though I am not alone……my struggles are their struggles……my struggles are normal. This insight is something that I desire deeply to pass on to my clients.
As a practicing therapist, I have taken the tests, read the books, and studied the theories but it often comes down to sitting across from a hurting individual and saying I see you, you are not alone, and these are the steps we can take together to heal.