Hello my, dear.✨
For the next five editions, we'll try something new. Instead of picking a different approach to self-care, entrepreneurship, and creativity with each edition, I want to do a deep dive into one of the cardinal practices that helped me deal with hardship over the years: Psychotherapy.
For this, I got the chance to team up with experienced and eminent therapist Elizabeth Sullivan. She was so kind to sponsor the Self-Letter. Therefore, I'll highlight five crucial aspects of psychotherapy in the next weeks and want to help you decide if this is something that can help you find more joy in everyday life and deal with challenges. If you're already in therapy I'll do my best to help you make the most of your sessions.
In the last five years, I went to two different therapists from two different psychotherapy schools. It was only with my second therapist I felt the incredible power therapy can have. This showed me how important it is to find a suitable therapist.
What is psychotherapy?
If you already have therapy experience this question seems obsolete. It's not. I only learned the true meaning of therapy months in.
To describe the essence of therapy I'll use the wonderful words of Alain de Botton from The School of Life:
"Therapy is an invention devised to correct the substantial difficulties we face in understanding ourselves, trusting others, communicating successfully, honoring our potential, and feeling adequately serene, confident, authentic, direct, and unashamed."
As he continues,
"In every social interaction, we sensibly ensure that there remains a large and secure divide between what we say and what is truly going on inside our minds.
The exception can be psychotherapy."
In psychotherapy, you're finally allowed to say everything you think and feel. You don't have to convince your therapist of your sanity or impress them. You can safely show your dark, odd, terrified, or perverted side, and your therapist won't be offended. You'll learn you're not a monster or a freak.
Experienced therapists have seen many facades of humanity. They speak to victims and villains of the greatest traumas without judgment. Your only job is to be willing to open up and show a little of what's going on inside of you.
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Is psychotherapy for me?
It's up to you to decide if you need or want psychotherapy. However, I want to correct one common misconception: You don't need a grave, specific reason or trauma to seek out therapy.
Many friends tell me they were pondering therapy but feel their problems aren't big enough. This isn't a contest. Your problems are as big as you perceive them to be. Untreated "first-world problems" can destroy your life.
When I tell people I go to therapy they often ask why. My only answer is what I wrote above - I seek a place where I can be unapologetically myself and talk about what bothers me without annoying anyone or the need to apologize.
Elizabeth Sullivan offers video therapy across the globe. She worked with people from Hong Kong to London to Bogota to Los Angeles.
She dives deep to understand and treat what bothers you. She studied the latest innovations in neuroscience and the oldest eastern practices, like yoga and meditation, to offer each individual the best possible tools for healing and personal development.
You can directly get in touch with Elizabeth through her website. Once you reach out with an email about what you're seeking she'll get back to you with the options to do a free 20-minute session or a full-length paid 50-minute session.
If you're currently looking for a therapist, this is the sign you've been waiting for.
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Things I enjoyed in the past week
Note: You can find all articles and books I read, podcast episodes I listen to, and movies I watch on my virtual Bookshlf (the place where I list all digital content I consume).
🖌️ Comic: The Gender Wars of Household Chores: A Feminist Comic by Emma
A tragic (but witty depiction of what it means when women are the project managers of the household, while men are just the underling. The mental load of organizing the household is still borne mostly by women. Emma explains the reasons and what we can do to change this dynamic.
👩💻 Tutorial: How to Master Digital Research to Create Amazing Content by Tedium
How do you resurface information worth sharing and reframe it in a way readers devour it? This elaborate tutorial has answers. I found this in Josh Spector's For The Interested newsletter.
📽️ Video: Time Anxiety by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
This explanation of time anxiety and what we can do about it really spoke to me. Many of us have the fear we're not spending our time wisely. Ironically, this keeps us from starting new things as we fear it's too late and not worth it anymore. Anne-Laure encourages us to focus on the process instead of the outcome and consciously make time for activities we enjoy.
🌟 Marketing: 8 Psychological Tricks of Restaurant Menus by Mental Floss
If you want to know how to persuade people and get them to spend more money, have a look at professional restaurant menus and the psychological tricks they utilize.
✍️ A Quote to Ponder: "If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves." - Maria Edgeworth
Love,
Juli💛
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Thank you for being here.🙏
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💌 If you enjoyed this letter, forward it to a friend who is wavering about therapy.
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