#1. Is therapy trendy?

We live in a culture where therapy is not necessarily becoming normalized. It's becoming "trendy". I would argue it's not the therapy that's trendy, it the desired outcome. It's easy to attract popularity when "feeling happier" is the showcased product. To normalize therapy, however, is to normalize the idea that something in our lives has brought us to point where we are unavoidably stuck and/or despaired. Therapy requires us to confront many of the things in our lives we would much rather ignore. While being faced with repeated "dead ends", we tell ourselves it's time to start fresh and begin anew. We put a positive spin on a perceived ending with the promise of relief. It's easy to market that idea.

Growth on the other hand is strenuous, uncertain, and often painful. In the botanical world, we rely on the promise of a bloom yet neglect to observe stages of flowering. The stage that began with a tiny seed being shoved into dirt and nearly drowned. What if we normalize the therapeutic process instead of merely glamorizing the expected results? The beauty of therapy lies in the process and it should not be dismissed. We wouldn't have the bloom without the sprout. It may not be pleasing to the eye but it contributed to something beautiful and it was a necessary stage in the plant's life. When we view therapy through this lens, we learn to embrace the entire process and accept ourselves at every stage. Rather than turn away from the messiness we want "fixed", we acknowledge our humanness. We cultivate wholeness, dignity, and peace.

I encourage you to start a new trend - within yourself. If you would like to invite me, I am available to walk alongside you as you begin your healing journey.