You probably second-guessed yourself in clicking on this blog title, didn’t you?
I know I would have.
Because it’s likely that you fall into one of three categories of people: the people who know they need counseling (and maybe are currently in counseling of some sort), the people who think that it’s great that counseling is out there but that they’ll never need it, or the people who think counseling is ridiculous and likely have an image in their head of what counseling is, imagining a long, red velvet couch with someone laid out on it saying, “When I was four years old…”
Well, welcome to the dark side, my friends. We may not have cookies, but we have emotional stability and a better handle on ourselves!
Just bear with me for a bit, here.
I’m not really going to address those of you reading who know how necessary therapy is for everyone. I do hope you’ll keep reading though, because maybe there’s someone in your life who you know needs some help of some sort and you can figure out a way to nonchalantly pass this on to them. You’re brave.
No, I’m going to mostly address those in the latter two categories up there, because out of everything I’ve learned as a momma, the greatest is this: you can never really have too much good help.
Notice there that I am not just saying “too much help”, no I am saying “too much GOOD help” because if you are also a mom, you know there is a big difference. There is absolutely a thing as too much help, like when your kiddos are all in the kitchen at one time wanting to help stir dinner and unload the dishwasher. But when you’re in the season of raising littles, soak up all the good help you can get.
I’ll start by sharing a little of my story: I began my journey of counseling at the age of sixteen when I was diagnosed with depression. From there, and through having three kids and walking through postpartum depression and anxiety, I have realized that having someone to talk to outside of my home and outside of my circle of influence has been some of the most significant good help I have received. It wasn’t easy, and finding a good counselor that I felt comfortable with took a lot of time and trial/error. But it was absolutely worth it.
We live in a broken world. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you believe in sin or not, all you have to do is look around and know that things here are not always pretty. We endure hurts and we give out hurts, that’s part of being human. And in turn, we carry wounds that affect us as we try to do day-to-day life. Some of these wounds we have walked around with since we were just little, others came along sometime in adulthood. Either way, unless they are dealt with, they fester.
I know it’s not easy to share your hurts with someone else, especially someone you don’t know. These wounds of ours are personal and sometimes they carry some amount of shame. And dealing with these things can feel like purposely opening a locked closet knowing that there’s a monster on the other side of the door. But just because the door is locked doesn’t mean the monster is gone. It’s the very same with our hurts.
When we bring our wounds out into the light and talk about them, they begin to lose their power over us. When they start to lose their power, they can no longer keep us bound. And as the chains fall off we begin to feel the way we were meant to feel before the hard things took over.
I do believe that ultimately, our healing needs to come through Christ alone. As He can walk through and understand everything that happens to us while we are here, He should be our first step on the journey of healing. But a counselor that can guide you and help you along the way is invaluable. Scary, I know, but invaluable.
So, if you made it this far, hear me when I say this: if you think that you have nothing in your life that could benefit from a chat with someone who is trained to listen and understand, even after truly evaluating your heart, then okay. But if you think there’s any chance that you could use someone’s help sorting through the stuff of your life, then I encourage you to at least give it a look.
It might be the best move you make for your emotional health!
