Therapy Session Reflections #8 – Unpacking Week 36, Happiness, Self-Care, Passion Projects and Me Time

We are undoubtedly living in a strange era, and I know that it will be in history books due to how odd it is. Although things have been out of the ordinary, I must say that I am happier than I believe I’ve ever been in life. We covered this in session 36 of my therapy session.

REFLECTIONS FROM WEEK 36 AND BEYOND

This week I have been reflecting upon my level of happiness, despite the entire world melting down around me. I fully believe how I am currently feeling about life is due to having spent so much time getting in touch with who I am with these therapy sessions. Due to this, I have been able to come to peace with a lot of things from my childhood, work on past traumas, and heal past hurts. All of this has allowed me to move these things out of my life and make room to find new pleasures. These new enjoyable things are 100% about me and what makes me happy.

As I was working through all of this, I realized how much holding on to stuff and not resolving issues from the past had impacted my life. Challenges left unaddressed, could have continued to affect my present and future. Had I not choose to address these issues, they could have taken over and directed my path in a way that could have continued to lead to further unhappiness. Addressing issues so you can put them behind you allows you to move those things out of the way so you can embrace happiness. That is where I am now.

A huge part of my ability to work through this was due to my therapist. She brought things to my attention that I wasn’t even aware of before attending sessions. I was additionally willing to take what was said, think about it, self reflect, learn, and adjust my behaviors. I was willing to do this, no matter how hard it was to hear, look at myself, and change some of the behaviors that I embraced in the past. Self-reflection can be hard, but changing behaviors that were a result of that self-reflection can be even more challenging.

So in the ten months that I have been in therapy, I’ve essentially unraveled and addressed a lot of the things that had been plaguing me my entire life. I additionally had a few light bulb moments about some very life-altering things. Consequently, I feel happier than I’ve never felt before, and it’s been wonderful.

All of the work within these months forced me to self analyze. I came away intending to dedicate the remainder of my life to my happiness by making myself the center of my own world. That was huge, especially since I’d spent the first part of my life dedicated to other people and trying to fit into a mold that was not me, but more to please others.

The past ten months have been about getting rid of things from the past, shedding the expectations of others, learning WHO I AM, and accepting that. Who I am becoming is who I really am. Who I was before was who others wanted me to be.

WEEK 36 AND BEYOND TAKEAWAY

The quarantine has allowed me to further get in touch with my happiness due to embracing this new improved version of myself. I love this new version of me. Some of the things that I’ve been doing:

Self-care – I know self-care is a buzz word now, but it doesn’t change that we must do things for ourselves. That is especially the case for women. We tend to focus on the needs of everyone before our own. I’ve been doing the following:
🔸Buying mostly organic food
🔸Eliminating most processed foods
🔸Cooking & baking
🔸Gardening
🔸Meditating
🔸Stretching
🔸Sleeping
🔸Protecting my energy
🔸Focusing on reciprocal friendship development
🔸Building more introvert protective measures
🔸Balancing my chakras
🔸Unplugging, phone, media, and text

Passion Projects – I never had time to even consider working on passion projects until this year. There have been so many things I’ve wanted to do. A few things I’ve been doing:
🔸Development of a project that has been brewing in my brain for ten years.
🔸Created a Magical Black Women’s Group
🔸Created a Virtual Book Club
🔸Hood Medicine: Marketing
🔸Blogging

Me Time – Has been something that I’ve had to learn to embrace. I am developing stronger boundaries for things that infringe upon my time because it’s so important. I spend time:
🔸Relaxing and doing absolutely nothing.
🔸Recreational reading.
🔸Netflix or Hulu. I’m currently enjoying Restaurants on the Edge.
🔸Spotify and listening to the crackle of vinyl.
🔸Lighting scented candle that aligns with chakra balancing.

Work Projects – Previously, I was a “do my work, get my check, and go home” sort. However, I am currently getting more involved in projects at my job, and they have been very fulfilling.

All of these things are keeping me busy but differently than the previous busyness that I was involved with because these are hand-selected projects that make me happy. They are not things I’m doing to fill time because I only know how to be busy and somehow believe that should be “a thing.”

Reimagining Life – I am now in a position that has made me reevaluate so many things in my life. That was due to the death of my father. Things that were not a consideration before his death are now attainable. If he were alive, he would LOVE that I have these opportunities for life-altering change. However, if he were alive, none of that would be remotely possible because they are due to his death. So, ironic a trick that life plays on you.

A huge part of my happiness came after my foundation was obliterated due to the death of my dad. Odd, that something so horrific forced this type of change. I guess it’s a sunshine after the rain kind of thing. Either way, so many things about this time forced me to look at my life and reevaluate everything. Therapy helped me make sense of all of my findings, and I will forever be a fan of therapy and therapists like mine who are goddesses on earth. I can’t imagine having the patience to sit and listen to people belly ache about their issues. Therapists are a gift and availing yourself of one would be a gift that keeps on giving in a way that allows you to move through life in a way that embraces happiness and a feeling of freedom you’ve never experienced before. I mean, that’s been my experience.

MOVING FORWARD TO WEEK 37

Next week’s session will involve some of the things that were my wins and/or challenges:
🔸Learning to set much stronger boundaries
🔸Protecting my introvert energy due to being so busy now
🔸Maneuvering this space of being “out there mingling” in a single sort of way more than usual. LAWD outchea’ in these single skreets. It’s so EXTRA that I may just have to start blogging about my experiences. Let me know if you want to read about that. 🥴 SIKE, what ya’ll not gon’ do is, be that much all up in a sista’s biz. 😅😅😅

I would love to know your thoughts on putting therapy session lessons to work in everyday situations. How are you taking what you’ve learned in therapy and applying them to your life in real-time? Reach out, let’s chat on FB, IG, and Twitter. Until then, Happy Healing and Happy Unpacking.

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