Between deadlines, career pressure, maintaining relationships, dealing with tragedy, and any other number of life’s curve balls, it can be damn hard at times being a young professional.
And while we all like to think we have it (mostly) under control, many of us could use some added guidance and insight – from a professional.
Yes, we admit it.
And yes, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
So if you’ve ever considered hitting the couch to have someone help you, we’ve got 9 reasons to help push you over the edge – in a good way.
1. It’s All About You
For a whole hour each week (or every other week), it’s all about you. You don’t have to worry about feeling self-indulgent, self-centered, or that you should be doing something for someone else. Because, really, you spend so much of your day doing things for other people. In fact, you should probably talk about that.
2. Your Friends Aren’t Professionals
Of course, friends wouldn’t be friends if they weren’t there to hear your problems and help you sort through your laundry list of issues. But at the end of the day, their advice won’t always be founded in knowledge – which can sometimes be a dangerous thing.
3. It’s a Judgment-Free Zone
A therapist’s couch/chair is a “safe zone,” one where you can say what you want without the fear of being judged. And that’s pretty liberating. You might be surprised to hear what you have to say when there aren’t consequences.
4. You’ll Get to Know Yourself
With the growing number of relationships we maintain in our young professional lives, we may tend to focus more on getting to know others than we do with getting to really know ourselves. When you’re in therapy, you learn something more about yourself with each session and how your habits and ways of thinking affect your daily life.
5. It’s an Investment in Your Future
Therapy sessions aren’t cheap; but think of them as an investment in your future. A therapist can help you define life goals – both personally and professionally – and determine appropriate action to take to achieve these goals. Not to mention, by revisiting your life, it can help to define both positive and negative patterns of behavior.
6. It Strengthens Your Relationships
There’s truth to the whole cliché that you can’t be happy with someone else if you’re not happy with yourself. Not only will therapy sessions work towards creating the best version of yourself, subsequently affecting your current and future relationships, they can help you get over issues that include insecurity, jealousy, anxiety, depression, fear of commitment, and overcoming a broken heart.
7. It Opens Your Mind
It’s easy to get stuck in ruts and patterns in both your daily routines and your ways of thinking. Therapy opens your mind to new ideas and insight and helps to identify reasons for behavior in both yourself and others.
8. It Forces You to Deal With the Tough Stuff
By this point, we’ve all been dealt some less-than-ideal circumstances. With our lives as hectic and busy as ever, it’s easy to ignore these things. We’re good at sweeping issues under the rug that we don’t want to deal with. The problem is, of course, that these things are going to eventually resurface and affect our lives – sometimes in ways you’d never expect. With therapy, you have no choice but to face all the “tough stuff,” but doing so will only better your life.
9. There’s No Shame
Especially with the growing awareness of mental health issues, the whole stigma of therapy is quickly eroding. But even if you don’t experience mental health issues per say, there’s a growing realization that having a therapist is the same as having a family doctor, personal trainer, or dentist. You better your body, now it’s time to better your mind.
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