new dawn counselling centre

Does talking help?

If you’ve had a problem for a while, chances are you’ve written a list of pros and cons, you’ve thought about it logically, you’ve tried to figure it out and still you just don’t know what to do. Your problem could be a decision about moving house, or changing job, a dilemma about a relationship, or how to cope with children or parents. If it’s been going on for a long time, you probably know how to keep it firmly locked at the back of your mind: but at what cost? Ok it scares you – and anyway, you’ve got a job to do, people to keep happy and no time to think . . . Even when we’ve tried to move forward from our problems and made progress, sometimes things happen and we seem to find ourselves right back at the beginning, wondering if things are ever going to change. So what do we do with these problems – bury them until they surface again, or maybe we could ask for help?

“I can’t do that!” you say, “there’s no way I could talk to anyone about this – it would be embarrassing, a waste of their time, and anyway – it’s not so bad, I’m coping.” And so it goes on – and how will you be feeling this time next year? Whatever we can’t talk about in our lives is already out of our control, and one of the greatest barriers to folk who are stressed, anxious or depressed is the inability to talk about what’s going on in their lives. There is some truth in the cliché “A problem shared is a problem halved” and if the person with whom we share our problem is “anonymous” then that can make it easier still.

So, what do I mean by “anonymous”? Someone who can be trusted not to tell all and sundry about your “stuff”; someone who will listen to you without making any judgement; someone who’ll respect you and value you as a person; someone who believes you can come through this tunnel . . . Sounds good doesn’t it. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is some space for you – whether that’s treating yourself to a nice “smelly” bath, a round of golf, a ticket to watch your favourite team – or maybe giving yourself the chance to ‘talk out your problems’ and make a difference to your future. Think about it – and if you would like to know more, give us a call.