One of my favorite quotes is:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” - Rainer Maria Rilke
Pressure Along with Change
This quote was shared with me years ago and has continued to be a comfort as I’ve navigated different phases of life. With the seasons changing I can begin to feel pressure to be doing more and more, moving quicker and more decisively. I feel it with my family and my clients. Even when I am out grocery shopping and waiting in line I feel it. I know that others are feeling the pressure too.
What To Do With The Emotions
Those feelings can manifest into depression, anxiety, self-critique, and an overall sense of exhaustion. However, I also see glimmers of love, encouragement, and hope. So, the question comes, what do we do with this mix of joy and grief, community and isolation? How do we find our way through it to the other side? And gosh, can we make it through as quickly and easily as possible? But somehow these questions seem only to add to the felt sense of pressure.
Be Patient With Yourself
Then I remember to be patient with ourselves. I remember that each one of us is in a process and as Rilke reminds us the point is to live everything. I remember that the process itself is as precious and valuable as what waits on the other side. And perhaps, the process is even necessary to grow in us what we need for the other side.
If you break off the cocoon around a butterfly, it will never fly. The butterfly needs to strain and struggle against its cocoon to build strength in its wings enough to fly. So, can we embrace the strains of this season, the grief and joy, the loneliness and commonness?
Embrace For The strength of Your Mental Health
What a loaded question. Because to hold such space for ourselves can be exhausting, however, it also seems to be the deepest act of kindness we can do for ourselves. To help remind ourselves that exactly where we are is ok. That it is ok, and likely not possible to have all the answers that the pressure asks us to. That who we are, as we are, is maybe not only ok, but a beautiful testimony of what we have been through and the strength we have to keep moving forward. Where we are in the process is exactly where we need to be.
Final Thoughts From A Therapist in Bozeman, MT
So, my question becomes, how can we remind ourselves of that? And how can we care for ourselves as we are learning to embrace our processes? Those questions themselves are a step in the direction of self-compassion. Almost a refusal of the pressure that so easily sneaks in. Whether it looks like adjusting our self-talk, giving ourselves permission to ask for help, setting boundaries around our time and emotions, or doing things that help us feel good.
I hope as a community we can embrace our processes. And though we each are growing and being strained in unique ways; I hope that we can come together in learning how to let ourselves do so.
Ready to Start Individual Therapy in Bozeman, MT? We’re Ready for You!
You are an incredible individual and you deserve to embrace the joy and grief with support. Individual Therapy in Bozeman, MT can help with self-compassion, boundaries, or whatever process you need to embrace. Our team of caring therapists are here to help you at our Bozeman, MT Mental Health clinic. We want to make taking that next step simple. To start therapy with Bridger Peaks Counseling:
Make an appointment online, at your convenience
Meet with one of our professional Bozeman mental health therapists
Embrace your Process and live a life of joy
Our Mental Health Services, Workshops & Resources in Bozeman, MT
In our Bozeman, MT counseling clinic, we want to help you in whatever ways you are needing for your mental health. Our caring team of therapists and professional mental health staff are here for you and your loved ones. Visit us for addiction treatment, group counseling sessions, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing for trauma therapy, marriage counseling and couples therapy, postpartum depression and anxiety counseling, depression therapy, workshops, and more. We look forward to talking with you soon!