4 Ways Therapy Has Changed My Life & Helped Me Grow

Mental wellness is a topic very near and dear to my heart. I could count all the mental illnesses that run in my family on one hand and still not have enough fingers. Growing up in my family, I witnessed and experienced firsthand the role that mental illness plays in a person’s overall quality of life. Unlike a physical ailment, such as a fractured bone being held upright by a multi-colored cast or a broken leg rendering the use of large and unwieldy crutches for a month, you could be interacting with someone who’s struggling to take back control of their life from the grips of a mental illness and not have a single clue. 

From the very beginning, mental illness has been referred to as “the invisible disease.” This narrative is not only detrimental to the community of people who suffer from them, but also to the portrayal of the legitimacy of mental health as a whole. People are more likely to disregard mental health as an essential component of overall well-being due to the stigmas surrounding it. In communities of color, where personal and generational identities often depend on physical and emotional resilience, mental illness is a difficult subject to dive into for many. My personal experience of being the eldest Vietnamese-American daughter in an immigrant family allowed me to see exactly how extensive and universal these taboos have become just in the Vietnamese community alone. For many others in the POC community, expressing interest in therapeutic practices can result in immediate dismissal and even disapproval of such an idea. I was lucky enough to receive the support I needed to finally start therapy– two years after I initially wanted to– because my family was already familiar with the impacts of mental illness. For those who may be interested in starting therapy but are still a bit apprehensive to speak up about it, or still deciding if it’ll be beneficial to you, here are four ways that therapy that has helped me grow as a person:

Therapy Helps You Feel Less Alone In The World

Therapy explores the concept of imperfection, such that no one is truly 100% without flaws, but rather all of us are dealing with our own internal and external conflicts while trying our best at life. It normalizes struggling and making mistakes, because that is what growing is mainly comprised of. During our most vulnerable times, we often fall into the mentality that everyone around us has their life together while we are the only ones fighting to get by. Therapy helps us step away from that mindset, as we are reminded that therapists exist for a reason- because all of us need help at one point or another- and that’s okay. 

Therapy Encourages The Healthy Release of Emotions

It can be extremely difficult to open up to another person, but sometimes inward reflection and acknowledging your actual problems are daunting feats of their own. Some of us fall into the habit of bottling up our emotions and burying them deep down because we don’t feel comfortable expressing our inner thoughts and feelings to the people in our lives. We fear that we will burden them, worry them or even experience ostracization for what we have to say. Therapy allows you to establish a confidential and trusted relationship with your provider and freely express yourself without the weight of any of those concerns. By doing so, we are allowing ourselves to exercise both our senses of trust and vulnerability. 

Therapy Offers New Perspectives On Repeating Issues 

By listening to what our therapist has to say, we are able to practice letting go of certain repetitive viewpoints in which we were using to assess our problems through. Instead, we open ourselves up to receiving new interpretations and solutions. We often take familiar routes in perceiving ourselves and our internal conflicts, whether we are aware of that or not. Our therapist, a trained professional with additional wisdom gained from their practice, can offer us more effective insight into the situation at hand. They are more likely to see the bigger picture because they aren’t as close to the situation as we are. 

Therapy Builds Your Confidence And Promotes Self-Reliability

If any concept is emphasized through therapy, it is self-love. In therapy, you learn to treat yourself with kindness, to celebrate the small victories, and to reflect back on your progress and be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. Mental wellness is a continuous journey, as life is unpredictable and will therefore inevitably throw you for some loops. However, no matter what hardships you might encounter, the work that you do in therapy will stay with you and become long-term tools for you to assess when you need them. With time, you will feel more self-sufficient and confident as you reinforce the mindset that you have exactly what it takes to do anything you set your mind to. 

These are just some of the ways in which therapy has helped me since I began my journey a little over 8 months ago, at the beginning of the pandemic. During such an uncertain time that has undoubtedly resulted in accumulated stress, just having someone to talk to once a week has proven extremely helpful in maintaining composure. Though I’ve learned a lot from therapy so far, I know that there is still more progress to be made, for self-growth is a non-linear and continuous process. I encourage you to take the steps you need towards achieving your own goals for mental well-being. After all, your mental health is your best investment.

• lifestyle
• mental health
• mental well-being
• personal growth
• self-care
• self-love
• therapy