Recently, author Caroline Moss asked her followers to share the best thing they've learned at therapy.
If you go to therapy quote tweet this with the best thing you learned at therapy that way everyone else can get free therapy
Many of the answers were extremely helpful*, so here are some of the best ones:
*And though these tips are a great place to begin, they're not a replacement for speaking to a professional. If it interests you, here's a guide to starting therapy.
1.
@CarolineMoss Avoid saying "should". It's too easy to fall into pressuring yourself and pushing yourself too much. Reframe and rephrase. "I should exercise" ➡️ "I like how I feel after exercise", "I should do laundry" ➡️ "I want clean clothes"
2.
@CarolineMoss When meeting new people, don’t think about it as trying to get them to like you- think about it as trying to see if you like them / if you get along with them. Rather than focusing on what they must be thinking about you, focus on what you think about them. Changed my life.
3.
Your inner child isn't just your inner joy, it's also your inner anger, your inner pain, the part of you that cries out. How would you talk to a child about their pain? How would you be tender to them and help them understand it? Treat yourself with the same tenderness. https://t.co/5MNNgv2wq7
4.
@CarolineMoss Also: Anger is pain pretending to be powerful. Behind every complaint is a desire. Say what you desire instead. The brain is like a wheat field. Old pathways are worn and easy to tread. You have to choose a new path again and again before it becomes the easier one to walk.
5.
@CarolineMoss @Nicole_Cliffe The best thing a therapist ever told me is that society doesn’t need to be the one to set me schedule. I’m allowed to eat breakfast at 11, go to bed at 1am. There’s no correct mold to fit, just find whatever works best for me.
6.
@CarolineMoss I learned : Do not attempt to understand why a dysfunctional person does what they do. Dysfunction has no logic behind it. Knowing This, has spared me anxiety and unneeded turmoil
7.
@CarolineMoss I told my therapist, after several weeks of anxiety reduction, that maybe I'm someone who never will be "happy". And she told me that happy people aren't continuously happy. Happy people just experience less anxious and depressed days, and that definition helped me reach "happy".
8.
@CarolineMoss @Nicole_Cliffe Oh! The other good one was that I dont need people who have hurt me to acknowledge the hurt for it to be real. My pain can be acknowledged and validated by me. It is not dependent on the validation of the ones who caused it.
9.
@CarolineMoss It's ok to not be busy and to not offer to others a reason I do or don't do each thing.
10.
Our self-destructive behaviors are almost always about control: a way of proving to ourselves that we're still steering the ship of the self, even if the waters around us are turbulent and unpredictable https://t.co/xxIpPvTQ3Q
11.
1. You cannot rationalize yourself out of an anxiety attack. 2. Some days, all you can do is survive and doing that is just as productive as the days you Do All The Things that we call productive. https://t.co/CSMxXYUBy8
12.
When you are depressed than anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Haven't showered? just stand in the shower for a few minutes. Need to clean your space? just throw out a few things! Need exercise? walk around the house. Need to eat? at least have some crackers! https://t.co/fZws2pWhPp
13.
- saying "no" can be an act of love - shame is an obstacle to growth https://t.co/bp6b76v77T
14.
Your brain literally can't do as much when you're grieving/burned out/emotionally overloaded, and forcing it to try is like driving on flat tires: maybe short term OK to get to the shop, but long-term it will ruin your rims. https://t.co/4wEA2dxWfr
15.
I've saved myself a lot of anguish by learning to accept people for who they are rather than being disappointed because they're not who I wanted them to be https://t.co/EHCgH159Ri
16.
@CarolineMoss Big take away- Pay attn to your inner-child. When you feel yourself overreacting or getting triggered, she’s usually the source. Check in with her, ask her what she needs without judgement, give it to her, parent her, physically love on her and then send her off to play.
17.
Your primal brain doesn't know the difference between your imagination and a lived experience, so the more you imagine playing out the worst case scenario the deeper you ingrain your fears and create anxious/self destructive responses. https://t.co/Afzn20AUzO
18.
you should tell your therapist when a technique they're trying doesn't do anything for you instead of playing along so you don't hurt their feelings. https://t.co/Rxx7uNtfVN
19.
You can think a thing and not believe in it. You can feel a thing and not act on it. You are more than your feelings, more than your thoughts. You are also your values. https://t.co/JMEORP5i2a
20.
Feelings aren't "good" or "bad." They're just feelings. Also a really good visualization for anxious thoughts is to imagine them as the crawl on a news channel. You're not ignoring them, you're just not letting them take up the whole screen. https://t.co/MBuqnpvNcq
21.
If you have a crippling fear of failure the best thing you can do for yourself is fail HARD at something. Odds are all that will happen is your definition of failure will change. https://t.co/aFR0Ir4bo1
22.
When you feel overwhelmed, make a side by side list of things you can control and things you can't control. rip off the "cant control" part and let it go. You're giving too much of your emotional energy to what you can't control that you neglect what you can. Save your energy https://t.co/8tLIQLqjTQ
23.
The fact that other people have had it worse has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you "deserve" to feel pain/anger/sadness over something you've been through https://t.co/4ZRbph3PXY
24.
I've tweeted this before but I'll tweet it again: You don't have to always bend over backwards to make plans work for people who have a history of not respecting your time or schedule. You can just say "it's at this time! hope you can come!" and MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE https://t.co/IwCqQRumCV
25.
you can give someone unconditional love without giving them unconditional approval https://t.co/uZ5wXfQOtK
26.
You can empathize with someone without making it your responsibility to change how they feel. https://t.co/1bFQwUKPXD
27.
if you are repeatedly engaging in a thought pattern or behavior, it's serving you in some way — that doesn't mean it's good for you! but if you can figure out what need it's fulfilling you can start to address the root cause (and have empathy for yourself in the process). https://t.co/a84diSS91T
28.
if you've been in a shipwreck you might have held on to a plank of wood to stay afloat but to climb aboard the rescue ship you need to let go of the plank of wood https://t.co/98jjvuZY13
If some of the things in this list were familiar, you might want to look into ways to take care of yourself. So here are some quick resources:
Maybe you want to learn more about starting therapy, since pretty much everyone can benefit from talking to a professional.
You can learn more about anxiety disorders here.
Here are little ways to be less anxious in general and here are some self-care tips.
And if you need to talk to someone immediately, the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. A list of international suicide hotlines can be found here.