It’s Time to RESET: Answering, “What do I get out of therapy?”
For the past few months, I’ve been unpacking the acronym RESET to help you see if you or a loved one should see a therapist. In each blog, I’ve talked about what restlessness, over sensitivity, emptiness, and tiredness feel like and how therapy can help relieve those types of suffering. All too often, someone will tell me, “But Dr. Rachel, I’m not suffering enough to need therapy,” and ask “What will I get out of therapy?”
Hey, you’re suffering. That’s enough. You shouldn’t push through your pain, but instead RESET with a therapist so you can find REST. Before we dive into what REST stands for, I want to recap on what the letters of RESET mean and how therapy helps each.
REstless
Being restless is a feeling of anxiety, causing someone to constantly worry that multiple aspects of their life will fall apart at any moment. Therapy helps people relieve this anxiety by slowing down, looking at each aspect of life, and deciding how to prioritize these things.
Sensitive
Over sensitivity feels like always being on the edge of emotionally bursting, causing someone to be fearful, angry, or tearful very easily. Therapy helps someone who feels sensitive unpack their feelings and life events to relieve inner tension and make life easier to process in a healthy way.
Empty
Feeling empty causes someone to become apathetic toward many aspects of their life, not feeling positively or negatively about almost anything and suffering from lack of motivation. Therapy helps people who feel empty by addressing the internal or external cause so they can leave behind their apathy and feel excited about their life again.
Tired
When someone is tired, they feel physically or emotionally drained. Because they have constantly pushed past their energy and capacity limits, rest no longer feels rejuvenating. Therapy helps people experiencing tiredness by helping them balance their lifestyle so they have built in time to rest and help their body and mind recover on a more regular basis.
Regardless of which letter in RESET you relate to most, everyone who goes through therapy can get to a better place on the other side, bringing better balance to their life and finding REST.
So, what does REST stand for?
Rested – By giving your mind and body everything they need, you get to experience a sense of peace and contentment you may not have before. Resetting with a therapist to bring yourself balance fulfills many needs, but primarily helps you experience a sense of calm.
Excited – Once you gain Rest, you have the energy to be excited about the direction your life is moving toward. Every day feels like a step forward, bringing something new, exciting, and fulfilling into your life as you grow. Over time, your perspective shifts to something more positive and allows you to look forward to taking the next steps towards your goals.
Secure – Speaking of goals, in therapy, you learn to better understand what you want for your life. A good therapist helps you understand your needs, wants, and values so you can make goals and choices that serve you. By having a good grasp on what your needs and wants are, you gain self confidence as the choices you make strengthen your life and help you maintain balance.
Thankful – Going to therapy is a big self-investment that takes time and vulnerability to get a payoff. After you work with a therapist that helps you RESET, gain rest, get excited, and help you feel secure in yourself, you are going to be so grateful that you gave yourself the gift of self- pursuit. You will look at the good things in your life and recognize that, “Hey, I did that. I made these good things happen by bringing balance to my life.”
If you resonate with feeling restless, empty, sensitive, or tired and want to RESET, I’d like to offer to help you find REST. All you need to do is take the first step and reach out.
