thankful on paper week II

my lovely friend Rachel aka

Mrs.Cherrytreelane

has started a little blogging revolution of thankfulness

you can read about her thankful on paper concept

HERE

thankful on paper actually started last week

but last week I was feeling oh so much less than genuinely thankful

that I skipped it and waited for a little inspiration

and a ton of THANKFUL to hit me

and thankfully this week it did...

Last night I wrote my first thankful on paper letter to

 my therapist

before I became a therapist myself  

I was IN therapy and

 by IN I do mean IN all IN

Over 20 years ago my life was

oh so no bueno

I called my HMO's psychiatry dept for an appointment

and SIX WEEKS later 

I arrived 15 minutes late for said appointment

and the therapist refused to see me

I was a hot ugly mess as  I charged downstairs to the lobby pay phone

called the psychiatry department and asked to speak to the supervisor

I remember his voice calm, gently authoritative and above

all things genuinely caring and reassuring

he re-booked the appointment for me

for the very next day

and to my huge relief I would not be seeing

the "evil rejecting" therapist

he would see me himself

on the surface therapy can seem like a completely

self indulgent modern luxury 

something that people with close family

or compassionate friends can certainly do without

I would even go so far as to say that there

are a fair number of practicing therapists

that are not able to provide much more than a little bit

of objectivity beyond what friends and family can offer

but

a good therapist

a skilled, seasoned, well trained therapist

a therapist who helps you cut through the noise in your own head

a therapist that emboldens you to honor your feelings and your needs

while continuing to challenge you to be your best self

 a therapist like that can help you change your life in ways that 

you may have never dreamed possible

and that is exactly what my therapist

helps me do

my therapist is THE reason I became a therapist

I reasoned that if I could help just one person

the way that he helped me then

my work life would have a deeper meaning and purpose

which is something that I have always craved

over the years a few patients have written me

letters of gratitude for our work together

and those letters have meant the world to me

I am so thankful for the opportunity

to tell my therapist in writing

what his compassion, insight and attention

continue to mean to me