Learning about yourself is hard...

For years you think you’re one sort of person: this is the narrative that you’ve told yourself and others.  It has helped you make sense of who you are and how you fit into the world.  And then something happens.  It might be a death, an end of a relationship or you change jobs, move to a new area, or perhaps something seemingly less ‘big’ happens like feeling a slight at work or the school gates and this narrative no longer seems to make sense. 

Part of you questions who you are, whether the story you’ve told yourself is true or even helpful any more.  The structure and safety net that this narrative has provided seems to begin to crumble. You question the labels you’ve had, ‘Perhaps I’m not the ‘successful’, ‘timid’, ‘in control’, ‘rebellious’ one after all’.  

Whilst these moments are often painful and can feel crushing they are also an opportunity.  An opportunity to start to question and explore who you really are, rather than perhaps what others have told you and you have begun to believe.

Counselling and psychotherapy are hard.  You often feel worse before you feel better and examining the narratives and structures can, at times, feel futile.  But it may just be that the very thing that was helpful, is no longer helpful, and you can use this moment as a catalyst to create some space with a professional to explore who you are and what is right for you.