Sometimes, we don’t get what we need from our friends and family. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care about or love us.
It might mean:
- they are triggered by you
- they are triggered by what is happening to you
- they don’t know how to help you
- they don’t have the bandwidth to give you the support you need
- helping you feels like betraying another relationship
- they don’t understand how bad things are
- they don’t know what we need
- they don’t know how to give us what we need
- they have compassion fatigue
Sometimes, the support you need and deserve is from a professional. All friends and family come with a relational history. They are not a blank canvas for you. They know ‘the old’ you and might judge what you are going through based on the past.
When you visit a professional, you develop a brief; you outline the piece of work that you would like to do together. You have the opportunity to explore your patterns and examine what is working and what is not working in an objective way. This can be pretty hard to do with family and friends.
We might feel like we don’t want to burden our family and friends, that we want to put on a brave face because nobody wants to hear about my relationship, depression, work issues etc anymore. This might be true, or it might not be true.
What is true is that you deserve to be supported.
When we are in our darkest places, we all deserve to be held. Professionally trained counsellors, psychotherapists and energetic healers are all trained to hold you in the dark, and to find a path into something different.
So much love on your healing journey
Jen
