So true and also relate so much. I often say that it's so hard to try to grow when I don't know where I want to go and can't draw the picture in my mind, I only know where I don't want to be...
I’m sorry that you are all too familiar with this subject! You bring up such an excellent point about not being able to envision growth and all the possibilities of how it could look.
I once had a therapist tell me that there is a whole lot of value in knowing what you don’t want, especially as you work on learning what you do want. While she said that in regard to searching for jobs, specifically, I feel like it can apply to this situation as well. She suggested I make a list of all the things I didn’t want in a job, including the sensory minutiae such as not wanting to be around people wearing tons of perfume and what not. Maybe I’ll make a list based on what I don’t want in general.
I hope you have a gentle start to the new year and find ways to show yourself compassion and kindness!
I hear and that is true that knowing what I don't want is a good first step. The problem is that I'm a visual thinker/learner and I need a picture in my head to work with. I struggle with setting goals in therapy since I don't know where I'm going. My therapist has a good module and the ideas it presents for what healthy behavior looks like makes sense but I can't visualize it.
Wow, I relate to this so much. As I’ve been trying to figure out “who I am” over the past couple years (what do I like do, what do I really want to do for work, what do I value in others, etc.), it’s been so disorienting because I’m like wait…I don’t think I know??? So I can definitely relate to it being scary to think about stuff outside of the #usual. But for me it’s at a point where my health has me so tapped out, that I can barely keep up that stuff that was helping me survive. So I’m just looking around like now what and the same time I know there’s work to do to fill in the gaps with stuff that serves my best interests 😭
I’m sorry you can relate, but I can’t thank you enough for sharing your experience! Dealing with all of this is already exhausting, then adding other health conditions on top of it? I feel like self-discovery and growth are forever out of reach because it takes so much effort and energy just to manage those health conditions. I’m wishing you all the best and cheering you on as you navigate your healing journey!
Thanks so much Skyler! You’re exactly right- feels out of reach. But I’m grateful to be on the path towards all this now, and it’s aligning well given my needs now with all that’s going on with my health. So I’m thinking it’s all still headed in the right direction somehow 😅 thanks again!
So true and also relate so much. I often say that it's so hard to try to grow when I don't know where I want to go and can't draw the picture in my mind, I only know where I don't want to be...
I’m sorry that you are all too familiar with this subject! You bring up such an excellent point about not being able to envision growth and all the possibilities of how it could look.
I once had a therapist tell me that there is a whole lot of value in knowing what you don’t want, especially as you work on learning what you do want. While she said that in regard to searching for jobs, specifically, I feel like it can apply to this situation as well. She suggested I make a list of all the things I didn’t want in a job, including the sensory minutiae such as not wanting to be around people wearing tons of perfume and what not. Maybe I’ll make a list based on what I don’t want in general.
I hope you have a gentle start to the new year and find ways to show yourself compassion and kindness!
I hear and that is true that knowing what I don't want is a good first step. The problem is that I'm a visual thinker/learner and I need a picture in my head to work with. I struggle with setting goals in therapy since I don't know where I'm going. My therapist has a good module and the ideas it presents for what healthy behavior looks like makes sense but I can't visualize it.
👏 So well written, Sky! Thank you for your vulnerability. 🌟
Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words! 💖
Wow, I relate to this so much. As I’ve been trying to figure out “who I am” over the past couple years (what do I like do, what do I really want to do for work, what do I value in others, etc.), it’s been so disorienting because I’m like wait…I don’t think I know??? So I can definitely relate to it being scary to think about stuff outside of the #usual. But for me it’s at a point where my health has me so tapped out, that I can barely keep up that stuff that was helping me survive. So I’m just looking around like now what and the same time I know there’s work to do to fill in the gaps with stuff that serves my best interests 😭
I’m sorry you can relate, but I can’t thank you enough for sharing your experience! Dealing with all of this is already exhausting, then adding other health conditions on top of it? I feel like self-discovery and growth are forever out of reach because it takes so much effort and energy just to manage those health conditions. I’m wishing you all the best and cheering you on as you navigate your healing journey!
Thanks so much Skyler! You’re exactly right- feels out of reach. But I’m grateful to be on the path towards all this now, and it’s aligning well given my needs now with all that’s going on with my health. So I’m thinking it’s all still headed in the right direction somehow 😅 thanks again!