I have a couple.
Wednesday I was in a session with a woman in her mid-thirties, who is trying to put her life together in a number of ways. Weāre working on more effective parenting, diet and fitness, and home management. She has a job she loves in a medical setting and is ready to make big changes, I suspect because her coworkers are inspiring her. Anyway, so sheās trying to get her grownup shit together and the father of the two younger kids needs to be brought onboard, so weāre working on communication around this. She said that she wished heād go back to therapy because āhe was so much better when he was in therapy,ā then went on to talk about how hard it is to get in anywhere, which is true in my area. So I asked who heād seen when he was going, because maybe he could just slide right back in, and she said āYou!ā Which was really validating, and left me glowing. People tell me pretty regularly that āIām so glad I had this today,ā or that it was helpful, but for it to come indirectly like that was a different kind of nice.
Another thing that happened yesterday was that I sold a woman in her mid-70ās on beginning a light exercise program, with our understanding being that when she gets comfortable with some light Walk at Home-type workouts, weāll add resistance. The significant issues she came to therapy for have gotten better, but yesterday she said āI just donāt feel right,ā indicating both physical and emotional, and we were able to talk about changes in her walking speed (I expressed concern that sheās walking very slowly relative to previously, and turns out husband has noticed, too), leading to a conversation about skeletal muscle and protein and etc. āI will do this tomorrow,ā she said about the light cardio (for balance, dynamic stretching, and a nice feel-good start). I am pleased! Sheās a bright, active woman, and I suspect this will be something she latches onto and sticks with. When I met her she was post-lethal-suicide-attempt. Iād like her to feel good in body and spirit, and I think weāre getting there.
Another client, male age 28-29, who has a seizure disorder theyāre trying to cure via now three recent brain surgeries, joined Planet Fitness in the spring, which was a financial stretch due to the impact his health issues have had on his earning capacity. For a lot of reasons, heās been very timid and self-conscious, which has been our focus. When he started at PF he was overwhelmed by the unknown of it all, and we spent a couple of sessions on increasing his knowledge base and comfort level, including approaching others for help/advice. So a few weeks pass and I can totally see the change, not just in his physique, but also in his posture and demeanor. I commented about it and he said āI knew Iād use it because Iām paying for it, but I didnāt know Iād like it so much!ā And I felt totally glowy. @Dani_Shugart you and I talked about talking about this stuff in psychotherapy, and itās rarely at this level of āhere is what you need to do,ā but these two were exactly that and have felt very good.