Leading a fulfilling life is the real American dream. No matter what your career goals, romantic dreams, or family life looks like, you want to feel like you’ve made a difference and you’re heading toward something you can believe in.
Lots of people strive for those things on their own, and in so many ways, that work is yours to do, but no one says you have to do it alone. Today we’re talking about the incredible ways that counseling can help you cultivate the fulfillment you’re dreaming of—and exactly how we do it.
These five things aren’t secrets, but they just might be the secret ingredient to healing your way toward the life you crave in individual counseling here at Awakened Path.
#1 You’ll be encouraged to view yourself in a balanced way
Many people who come to therapy for the first time fall too far on the spectrum of personal responsibility. It can be challenging to find the sweet spot in owning the things you’ve contributed to in your life while processing the things that have happened to you.
Where so much of the world finds us feeling on the defensive or offensive, counseling is the space where you’ll find encouragement to set those things down and create a balance between them.
It doesn’t matter if you’re prone to feeling like everything is happening to you, and you have no control, or if you’re responsible for everything and carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. What matters is your willingness to show up for yourself and find neutral ground between the facts and feelings that color your world.
#2 You’ll develop coping mechanisms that work for you
Imagine you’re building a house. You drew the plans and did the work. You’re coming to a critical part of the project- both floors of the structure are complete, but it’s time to connect them. You must build stairs. You’ve got the wood, the nails, and the plans.
You don’t have a hammer, though, and you’re going to need one. Except, you can’t remember the word for a hammer, and when you ask for a tool, you’re given a saw.
Saws are great, but they’re not a suitable replacement for the hammer you need, and in fact, if you use the saw instead of the hammer, you may put the planning and work you’ve done to this point at risk.
The coping mechanisms you’ll learn in individual counseling are the difference between a saw and a hammer when you need to build stairs. It doesn’t matter if you have good tools if they are the wrong tools for the job you need to get done. When you’re working on healing trauma and creating a life of fulfillment, you need the special care of coping tools designed to be your secret ingredient to success.
#3 It prioritizes the value of being honest with yourself first
Sometimes, the long hard look therapy asks you to take at yourself is painful. It might feel like looking in one of those 10x magnification mirrors under fluorescent lights, and in some ways, it is.
It can be uncomfortable to look into that mirror and see everything you’ve been trying to avoid in screaming detail, but it will offer you the safety to do so in a space you’ll be supported. The relationship you build with your therapist is designed to amplify the hurts and hope you need to examine to create the healing you crave.
Emphasizing the process of accepting your realness is essential. In counseling, you get the opportunity to embrace that process instead of focusing on what you find. While that realness can be messy (and we are here to deal with whatever you find in it!), learning to look past the perfection to find your authentic self is a critical part of attaining the fulfillment you’re after.
#4 Your fulfillment—and your healing—is unique
Speaking of fulfillment, can I tell you a secret? It doesn’t look the same for everyone. What you’re reaching for and the ways you’ll be able to move toward it is entirely unique to you. Who you are, what matters to you, and the things you’ve been through all play a part in making up the path you’ll take toward fulfillment.
Because of this, that unique path must be recognized and valued so you can honor your unique needs. Working with a counselor will lend you the expertise and education they’ve worked hard for a while, continuing to center you as the expert in your own life. In tandem, this dual expertise gives you a boost in capability to make informed progress with less mistaken tools.
Mental illness and feelings of insecurity, dissatisfaction, or inadequacy can often go hand in hand. When you work towards healing and your unique goals, you will feel more fulfilled and confident in facing whatever comes your way.
#5 Compassionate accountability can change the way you receive the world
In personal therapy, you’ll be encouraged to reach for that possibility with the secret ingredient that lies at the intersection of compassion and accountability. When you’re working with a counselor who wants to see you succeed, you’ll be challenged to look at the hard things. In those challenges, you’ll be held with heart in spaces where you feel safe enough to do so.
Exploring those same things on your own may be met with fear, discomfort, or rejection of yourself in ways that inhibit your progress instead of moving you toward the potential that you’re already so capable of.
Taking responsibility for your actions alongside viewing your authentic self without a filter might feel like all the reasons you don’t want to go to therapy, put into a single sentence. I get that it’s uncomfortable to choose the work of unpacking the experiences that you’ve pushed yourself to move past.
But you deserve that freedom. You deserve to be free of the cobwebs of hurt that are crowding your healing and holding you back from a future of possibility where you are holistically in tune with yourself.
One step, one hour, one secret ingredient at a time. You can build the path that will get you where you’re going. We will be right there with you every step of the way. Connect with us today to get started.
Some of the best holistic treatment options in New Jersey are available at Awakened Path. Awakened Path Counseling proudly provides quality transpersonal and traditional psychotherapy, at their offices in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and online. Their experienced therapists specialize in serving teens, children, adults, couples, and families. The experienced clinicians at Awakened Path Counseling are passionate about their holistic approach to mental health, addressing your emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual needs.
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