I keep a basket of stress balls on my office desk and a slightly battered notebook where I write down the metaphors that actually resonate with my clients.
The Messy Truth Therapy is not about “fixing” yourself because you are not fundamentally broken. It is about building a toolbox. I started writing things down because the mental health space on the internet has become entirely saturated with empty platitudes. “Just think positive” is terrible advice when your nervous system is in overdrive. “Good vibes only” is just a way to suppress actual, valid human emotion.
What Actually Works On this site, I break down the clinical jargon into actual tools you can use. I explain what a boundary actually sounds like when you have to say it out loud to a family member. I write about somatic exercises you can do while sitting in your car before a stressful shift at work, and how to tell the difference between laziness and actual executive dysfunction. I skip the endless, overwhelming journaling prompts that just make you feel worse.
Things I Still Struggle With I am a therapist, but I am still human. I consistently fail to take my own advice about putting my phone in another room an hour before bed. I also have to actively remind myself on a weekly basis that it is not my job to manage other people’s emotional reactions to my decisions.