The Therapist Diaries

  Hello and welcome back to The Therapist Diaries,  Congratulations, you’ve made it through January. However you did that, I’m not here to judge, only to offer a breath of fresh air as we finally step into February… one day closer to Spring! All jokes aside, I found January really stressful. Returning from the holiday period, the beginning of tax season, the lead up to the Super Bowl… there’s just so much going on in one month. This month, I’ve definitely learned  how important it is to take it slow, calm it down, and not let the stress of the season overwhelm us.  Stress and burnout are words we hear and use constantly, often as if they mean the same thing. Many people describe themselves as “burned out” when they’re under a lot of pressure, while others say they’re “just stressed” when what they’re experiencing runs much deeper. Although the two are connected, they aren’t interchangeable, and knowing the difference matters. What helps relieve stress doesn’t always ...

Hello and welcome back to The Therapist Diaries,  Today was an emotionally fatiguing day for me. I am so incredibly privileged that my job allows me to travel between the UK and the USA, and that I have friends and family waiting for me on both sides of the pond. Today it was time to fly back to the USA after spending an amazing three weeks in my homeland for Christmas. I have some great things coming up in the US and I cannot wait to see my parents… but still, getting on that flight and saying goodbye to my loved ones was hard!  So, how do we motivate ourselves to do the things in life that we just do not want to do?  I’m a philosophically hedonistic person. I truly believe that we were put on this Earth to find our passions and experience everything we possibly can. More often than not, for me, this results in me following my heart and doing whatever option pleases me best in the moment. There’s nothing wrong with living life this way, but it can’t be our attitude in ev...

Hello and Welcome to The Therapist Dairies,  Is anyone else feeling stressed? It's getting to that time of year where time seems to fly by, and things seem as though they're mounting up.  Stress rarely announces itself loudly at first. It creeps in through the small moments you dismiss as “just being busy” or “having a lot going on right now.” As an therapist, I often tell clients (and their parents) that the body is usually the first to whisper that something is off, long before our minds catch up. You might notice tension in your neck and shoulders that never fully goes away, headaches that seem to arrive right on schedule, a fluttering stomach or lingering digestive issues, disrupted sleep, or a sense of fatigue that no amount of coffee or energy drinks seems to fix. Sometimes stress shows up as irritability or forgetfulness, or even a sense of detachment from things you normally care about. None of these sensations mean something is wrong with you; they mean something is a...