You know it’s bad when you have two therapists say the same thing to you on two separate occasions. To answer your first question, yes, I see two therapists. I have my therapist who I have been seeing for six or seven years, and then I recently picked up another who I see less frequently to help me with a more specialized niche that not many deal with. As for your second question, they both said how I was getting slammed with life change on all fronts.
I live a stressful lifestyle to begin with. Working as a therapist myself, it is part of the job description. Throw in there that I deal with the ever-chronic fibromyalgia diagnosis, and it adds up for tons of fun. However, in just the last six months, I started my own business with a staff of ten employees, moved to a whole new state, and practically inserted myself into a family as the father figure when I moved in with my girlfriend and her two kids.
That’s not a lot, right? I started the planning process six months ahead of my business’s opening date. I imagined it would be up and running steadily by the time I moved in with my girlfriend about six months after that. While getting my business in order, I organized myself, wrote down everything I needed to do with my next big move, and had constant discussions with my girlfriend to keep my head on straight. I thought I had it all mapped out and felt confident in doing so.
Man, was I wrong? I grossly underestimated the move and how much I put on my plate. My stress levels skyrocketed. Shortly thereafter, my fibromyalgia flared up. All of this coincided with my move. I not only felt beat up physically, but I beat myself up mentally. I was not living up to my own expectations, and looking back at them, those expectations needed to be adjusted.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it now. Acceptance does not mean approval. I didn’t like it, but my therapists gave me a bit of a reality check. I took on a lot in a short timeframe. With that being said, I needed to give myself grace. I was less than six months into opening a beautiful group practice and less than two months into a major move/instant family. Who in their right mind would have adjusted right away to such things?
Thankfully, it has been getting easier. That isn’t to say that other things might come up, but I will just have to take them in stride, as I have all this time. After getting pounded on all fronts, it’s nice to feel some level of peace on at least one of them.
-The Caring Counselor