Hello There…

You know the hardest part about doing anything, in my opinion? It’s the starting it. That’s right – not the idea phase or the planning phase or problem solving of the hurdles you run into along the way. It’s the starting, the sitting do it phase. For instance, I have wanted to write a blog for over a year. I had the ideas, the name. I even spent time developing that blog page of the website. But have I sat down to write anything? Nope.

I think therapy is that way too. I heard a marketing strategist refer to therapy as a slow burn. You don’t sit down to schedule an appointment the moment you start thinking about going to therapy. You float the idea. You search options in your area. You Google things like “what is anxiety therapy like?” or “is therapy right for me?” When you sit down to reach out to a therapist you’ve already made a decision, now it’s time to start. Which, like we said, is the hardest part.

But why? Why is hard to do the thing we want to do or the thing we know would help us feel better? Maybe the little voice in our head isn’t so nice and tells us we’re going to fail. Maybe our support network is zilch. Maybe things haven’t worked out in the past so the idea that this is the thing that could work out, is really hard to believe. Therapy is a great place to sort all the out but we’ve already established starting is hard.

The question then becomes how. How do I start the thing that I want to start? We could be like Nike and “just do it.” But my response to that is – well if it was that easy I would have already. We could give ourselves a pep talk, a little warm up in the mirror. Some positive affirmations. Athletes warm up – this could work.

What if we made a decision to do it? Not a decision because I HAVE to or because I SHOULD. Not a decision because my girlfriend told me to try it because she really loved. But a decision because despite the thoughts, the negativity, I am making a choice to do this for me. Any decision I’ve made because I wanted to do something may not have always worked out amazingly but it always felt better than when I did something because someone else said I should. Starting the thing you want to start because you have made a choice – I wonder what might feel like for you?

So when I had cancellation today, I sat to write about how hard it is to start. Not because our marketing team told me it was good for SEO (they did) but because I made a choice to share my thoughts with you. Welcome to On the Couch, my little corner of the internet, where we’ll share therapy thoughts, wellness tips, parenting struggles, all the things.

Whatever it is you want to start today, here’s to you.