There are very few places in our lives today where we can go and just talk without any interruptions. There are very few places where there is no judgment, and there are no expectations being placed upon us.
Counselling (or therapy ) offers us a place where we can go and sit for an hour a week and just be ourselves. There is no pressure to compete with anyone else in order to be heard. There is no pressure to have a more entertaining story than somebody else. There is no pressure to be ‘right’ or to demonstrate how we have the world all figured out. No need to talk of how our kids are doing so well in school, or in college, or in Australia. We can talk about and explore our fears or worries in a place where we don’t need to keep things to ourselves for fear of upsetting a loved one. We don’t need to be ‘on stage’ by having a funny story to tell. We do not need to try to make the other person ‘like’ us through whatever method we so often find ourselves using in our day-to-day life. We can say what we feel without any fear that it might ‘get back’ to our neighbour, or family, or partner.
Therapy offers a place where a person can explore themselves, where a person can talk at length, if they so choose, without ever having to ‘get to the point’. We can talk of our sadness, or our loneliness, and we can express it in front of another human being without anyone else ever knowing. We can of course also talk of our successes without feeling we are bragging or boasting. We can talk of our hopes and dreams without anyone making any attempt to silence us, or belittle us, or ‘cut us down’.
Psychotherapy is not about prescribing medication. It is not the first step on our way to a psychiatric ward, nor is it a place only for those who have ‘issues’ or ‘problems’. It is a place for a person to be themselves, even for just one hour a week. It is a place where we can try to discover who we really are and what we want from our lives.
Barry Kavanagh offers a low cost counselling service in Mullingar. He can be contacted on (085 ) 7490053.
