Using What You Learned In Therapy (Making the Leap!)

This is just a brief reminder that therapy is much more effective when you create a habit of practicing what you do/talk about in therapy, outside the therapy office. Sometimes in therapy we have brilliant insights! Remarkable experiences of healing childhood trauma! Deep and refined discussions about how you'll set boundaries with your in laws! And then, life again. Therapist: "so did you follow up on what we discussed?" You- "No, just- no I didn't".

Its not easy. We all have things to work on in our life, and making the changes we want takes practice and iteration. And we don't always get it right, even when we are intentional and trying. Theres also nothing that says you can't just carry on the way you've been doing things. But if so, there are often consequences we don't want to think about. Theres a reason you talked about that in therapy. The toughest part is often getting started with practicing the desired behaviors outside the therapy office.

The good news is, with enough iterations our brains begin to rewire to new possibilities. We begin to experience for example the ability to speak up, to say no when thats what you mean, or to make a call or get yourself to a 12 step meeting when you have urges. Its not always easy, but very possible to make the leap from talking about it in therapy, to practicing it in real life.