Shower Thoughts with Shelly

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Health is health

“I could use someone to talk to, but what will people say?” “I don’t have time for therapy.” “My problems aren’t bad enough that I should take up someone’s time like that.”

Know what? I have a therapist. I’ve had two different ones. My first one moved, and I had to take the time to find a second one. I’m not having a crisis where my life is in danger. It’s nothing terribly dramatic. But between my anxieties, my history, and my day to day struggles… I knew I needed some support. Friends are great, and make all the difference in the world, but I needed more than that.

Oh but wait, there’s more. You know what else? I’m on medications! I have prescriptions for a couple of different mental health issues. Anxiety can be crippling, even when your logical brain can sit and tell you that it’s all fine and you’re being ridiculous. Depression can be consuming, even when you really would like to do something, it can keep you stuck.

I tell you those things to tell you more. I want you to know that having a therapist, needing medications to help even you out, having a hard time with your mood or mental health… these things are nothing to be ashamed of. It is perfectly reasonable and acceptable.

You don’t have to have survived an extremely traumatic event. There are no qualifications for therapy. Everyone handles things differently, just the same as everyone has different fears and different things that make them happy. You might like heights and would jump off a bridge for the thrill of the fall, but your neighbor might’ve fallen off and it was terribly traumatic. But your neighbor keeps a pet tarantula, where you’re so afraid of spiders you won’t go in their house. We each are affected differently by different things, but it doesn’t make anyone more deserving of help or care.

And don’t let anyone tell you there’s anything wrong with needing a therapist or medications. Just the same as people are on blood pressure medications or have to use insulin for diabetes, sometimes your body just doesn’t make the right stuff to keep your mood and mental health balanced. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

If you need to feel shame, you should feel it about judging yourself so harshly. You are your own worst critic, and you should really be more kind to yourself. Don’t think for a second that you aren’t as deserving as anyone else, or that something must be wrong with you. Health is health, whether mental, physical, or spiritual, and it needs to be taken care of.

Don’t be afraid to take that step. Don’t be ashamed to take care of yourself. And don’t ever for a second think that you don’t deserve to be happy.