ISOLATION & LONELINESS

 

When everyone's in their cars or behind their locked doors or shopping only at the mall, we simply don't "run into each other" as much as we used to. The village square is too-often empty. It can be hard to meet people, and if you're already coping with a certain amount of social anxiety or shyness or insecurity, it can feel like some deck is stacked against you. Men, in particular, often isolate—but women do too. Counseling is a good choice because it involves a very real, human relationship.

 

The therapist is not a computer screen or TV character (God willing)... They are real - you know, like you. We can actually "practice" being in a "good enough" relationship - the counselor representing something approximating "relational lawfulness" - just the right mix of deep, deep support and firm, sustained limit-setting and healthy boundaries. We then endeavor to bring these new skills into our world. Therapy is not a substitute for having friends or family—not at all—it is just a good place to learn the extent to which you have many more skills in the social arena than you may be aware of. If you're feeling it, someone else is as well. Somewhere out there are people like you. ALOT like you. If you can learn to like yourself just a little bit better, forgive yourself just a little bit more, the results can be shocking! If YOU like hanging out with yourself, people pick up on this and actually seek you out. This is something you can do.  TB