Day 2: The Plan

The Plan

With my first session under my belt, I returned to Sara’s office ready to get started. After sitting down, Sara showed me the structured plan she had organized after our last session. As I am a structured person and find comfort in organization, I was pleased to see a detailed plan in the form of a therapy timeline laid out before me. This actually made the therapy seem manageable. Perhaps I would be able to get through such enormous issues step by step.

First, would come stress management. I suppose it is common sense – if one is reaching into their past to explore several traumatic events, they will need to make sure they first know how to manage the stress that will accompany that journey. I found that I was not very advanced in the stress management department to begin with. In fact, one of the reasons I contacted Sara for assistance was due to my anger getting more and more difficult to suppress in the last few months. I suppose it would make sense for stress management to be linked to anger management. So, I first worked with Sara on stress management. Analyzing the level of one’s stress management skills may include looking at their social involvement, their hobbies, their venting outlets and their stress-reducing techniques (such as taking a bath, exercise, writing, etc). I quickly came to find that I was foremost lacking in the department of stress-reducing techniques. I had grown up believing that to spend money on a sporadic massage was selfish, as was taking time for yourself. If I was to buy myself a new outfit, I was decidedly a show-off, a snob. Self sacrifice was a must in my household growing up. Slowly teaching myself to take time to unwind was not easy – I still struggle with it today.

It occurred to me after this session that so many people refuse to take time for themselves. A very obvious observation, I must admit. But how much it must affect society? As an adult, I realized, it wasn’t just my responsibility to complete the everyday tasks, but also my responsibility to release the everyday build up of stress – something that benefits both myself and those around me.