Response to “I Didn't Realize My True Potential Until I Started Going To Therapy And Taking Anti-Depressants”

I did not think I would ever need to go to therapy. When I was in high school, I thought therapy was for those that had a rough home life, struggled in school or dealt with a serious mental health issue. Even in college, my friends went to therapy for various reasons but I had a great life with an amazing family and no real struggles in life. There was never a stigma surrounding therapy, I just never thought it would be right for me.

Then I graduated during a pandemic. Where there were no jobs in sight and my boyfriend of two and a half years broke up with me unexpectedly. After that, I started to experience more anxiety in my life, especially when it came to getting back into the dating world. I knew I needed to go to therapy.

I started therapy at the beginning of 2021. We met online and I was pretty nervous. I told her what I was struggling with, she introduced herself to me a bit too and we sat down to talk about what I hoped to accomplish during therapy. Some of my goals were to identify and utilize coping skills to decrease my anxiety and also process past relationship trauma.

In high school, I was in an emotionally and, at times, physically abusive relationship. Without truly processing it after the breakup, I met another boy in college whom I knew from my childhood. He was everything I was hoping for in a man. However, we were in a long-distance relationship. After almost two years, he stopped communicating as much. Turns out, while we were dating, he was talking to another girl. He broke up with me to pursue her. It hurt and it really broke my trust.

In three therapy sessions, I talked about my past relationships. Truly processing what I went through. The abuse, the manipulation, the betrayal and all that heartache came flowing out. I thought it would make me feel worse, but it made me feel free. It made me realize that sh*t happens and it is possible to move away from it. In about a year’s time, I learned ways to cope with the anxiety and if I begin to spiral from “what if” situations in my life, I have learned to challenge those thoughts and get them out of my head.

After being in therapy for two years, I still meet with her to talk about me. What is going on with my job, navigating a new relationship after some difficult relationships and just learning life as a young adult (Your 20s are hard, y’all. The quarter-life crisis is real.) She is a great person to listen to my ramblings and reassures me that anxiety is normal, it’s just learning how to manage it.

Therapy has helped me in so many ways that I can't imagine a time when I ever thought I didn't need it.