Individual Therapy

You can’t remember the last time you’ve actually felt like yourself.

You start the day feeling some optimism and maybe even a little hopeful.

But then someone says something to you, and it’s like a switch is flipped. You become angry and irritable, and that’s your mood for the rest of the day. You can’t forget that one comment – now, everyone you interact with must face the consequences.

Maybe you’re reminded of a painful experience from your past, and what you thought you moved on from now has you scared more than you want to admit. Someone walks by you, or the smallest sound or movement makes you jump – going into defense mode.

What about the hobbies and interests you once enjoyed? You think it would be a good idea to get back into them, but they seem like such a chore now. Why can’t you find the excitement to enjoy them once again?

Tossing and turning at night – what does a good night’s rest feel like? It’s been so long since you’ve experienced one. The moment you close your eyes, thinking you’ll reach peaceful slumber, the nightmares come. And you spend another night staring at the ceiling until the alarm clock shrills in the morning.

Nothing you’ve tried to make things better has worked.

You keep turning to risky or self-destructive behaviors – they only provide temporary relief. But for you, any relief is good. It’s better than facing the hopelessness, fear, and disappointment you feel.

Sometimes, you even look to others to blame for why you’re so unhappy or angry. If it’s someone else’s fault, it can’t be yours, right?

If only you could just find a way to relax and turn off the negative self-talk or constant worry. Your brain is on overdrive.

You’re dealing with baggage you’ve carried your entire life.

The word “normal” does not describe your life.

You’ve felt ignored – like you’re a supporting character but never the subject of the storyline.

Hit, slapped, or threatened so often that it became an expectation that anyone in your life would do this again.

You never felt supported by “your people,” more like they were the default rather than the family of choice that you hand-picked. When you think back, it felt that way with your family of origin, too. Like their version of support didn’t fit into your idea of what you needed from them.

What does it mean to be your “full self?” You don’t know because if you took the volume off mute and people knew the real you, you fear they’d run away.

You feel like you don’t fit in – a round peg in a world of square holes.

And relationships?

They’ve always been difficult. You just don’t seem to understand what other people want from you or who you’re supposed to be.

A messy breakup made you question your identity and feel like you didn’t even know who you were anymore.

Relationships with others take too much work; it is easier to remain cut off from everyone, but you’re lonely. You see everyone else navigating relationships, and you aren’t sure how they manage to do it.

Your friends have brought up some behaviors that bother them or set a boundary with you, and you can’t help but wonder why. You’ve been feeling isolated and lonely since then, and worse yet, you don’t know how to change.

People seem to think that your emotions are too big or that you’re too dramatic, but you aren’t even sure what that means or why they say that. You don’t want to change who you are, but you also don’t want to be alone any longer.

Some come into therapy…

… to work on a lifetime of neglect or abuse.

Some come due to an emotional upheaval that has changed the landscape of their lives.

Some come seeking advice only to find they already had the answers… they just needed the space and time to work it out aloud.

Others want to learn how to live out loud without feeling like they are too much.

No matter what brings you into therapy, Black Lotus Counseling is here for it.

Individual therapy is a space all about you.

This is an hour you can spend exploring your thoughts and feelings without judgment, pressure, social convention, or the need for reciprocity.

Here, you can process things aloud and get the nonjudgmental support you can only get from a trained professional. As you’ve probably experienced, well-meaning friends can be toxically optimistic, offering rhetoric or consolation to “cheer you up.”

But that’s not what we’ll do in therapy. This is a place where you’ll be seen and validated as you share what’s hardest in your life.

Together, we’ll design an individualized plan that will propel your life to heal the past and improve the future.

It’s a time to explore and live fully in your authentic self.

Living authentically means no more feeling burdened by the expectations of others, no fitting into a box that was not built to fit you. It means feeling whole, like you are no longer missing pieces. It is the power of feeling like you are safe to be yourself and to set boundaries.

In therapy, you will learn how to tolerate feelings and feel them without succumbing to the overwhelm. We will find ways to lessen your reactivity, allowing you to process things and move past them rather than getting caught up and allowing them to construct your reality.

You’ll learn how to allow those hidden parts of yourself to come forward and let go of the pain they have carried for years. We will desensitize the traumas of the past while building a brighter today and a positive tomorrow.

Therapy with Black Lotus will give you the space to explore your mind’s inner workings and help you settle into living in the present rather than obsessing over the past or the future.

This is your time.

Sessions are conducted online or by phone from the comfort and safety of your home or private space. It is a convenient, accessible, and individualized experience.

I’m happy to work with you to decide what type of therapy is best, given your circumstances.

Let’s ensure you’re getting the benefits of therapy you deserve!

Call or text me today. Let’s schedule a free consultation to see how I can help: (484) 599-2640.