You’re going to therapy but the experience of it can be hard to grip once you start unpacking things in your life. Just because it feels unnerving, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing it wrong, it means that you’re simply entering into new territory. Shout out to you for working on something other than your career and craft and making this investment in yourself. 

Yet for all the signs and graphics telling you to go to therapy, what do we do when we get there? For many of us, getting to the session is only the very beginning of the battle, it’s what we do once we’ve made the decision to commit, that’s left up for grabs. 

So here are five things to consider for your own personal therapy practice so that you can leave room for the process to do what needs to be done. 

Things can be going well, you can be in a good place, and STILL want to go to therapy.

While it is a helpful tool for trying times, therapy is not only for sad and tragic occasions and going to therapy doesn’t always mean that something has to be wrong. It can also be helpful when you’re in a good place to just have someone objective to talk to. Every person needs an outlet and a place to release. Therapy can be that space.

Everyone’s timeline and process is different. 

In the same way your career timeline or your diet, or home, or computer desktop won’t doesn’t look like anyone else’s, your therapy journey is going to be uniquely yours. At one point you may do sessions every other week or you may go twice a week. Some people go for seven months and some are still going after seven years. Some started up and then stopped. Like any relationship, this one will also be what you make of it. Your pace and progress is up to you.

You won’t leave with answers every single time. 

Some sessions it’ll just be you and your feelings and you gotta sit with them. In the meantime, we recommend simply doing the most immediate next step towards taking care of yourself. Facing your emotions can get DEEP. 

While not clicking with a therapist can be super frustrating, it’s also super common.

As much as this may pain you, the process can be similar to dating. It is what it is. 

It’s not your therapist’s job to do the emotional work for you. 

That’s your job, your responsibility. They are here to support and aid you on this journey but they won’t guide you. Even when things don’t make sense, you still have to move intentionally on your own accord and at your own free will.

You may need space to breathe before and after sessions. 

Even if you can’t physically “see” the progress, you’re doing MAJOR work participating in therapy and every single session is making ground for something even bigger. Yes there may be revelations and uncoverings along the way but it’s the small things over time that will start to add up into personal transformations and changes. You may feel disoriented after therapy so try to schedule in space to take your time and take care of yourself. 

We may be called to be experts in our respective crafts and rightfully so but in therapy, everything that you know is challenged and you’re confronted with the fact that you may not know as much as you thought. 

Going to and participating in consistent therapy sessions will lead you to the most honest, personal, and transformative work you can do for yourself, if you’re up for doing the (inner) work.

For books that support this work, check out our Wellness and Overcoming Overthinking List.