Do You Assume You’re One of One, or One of Many?One of the parts of my job that I feel so incredibly honoured by is being able to hear about people’s raw and messy moments. It’s not uncommon for my clients to share thoughts, experiences, and emotions with me that they haven’t shared with anyone else in their life. Very often when I’m hearing something vulnerable of this nature, I hear - not necessarily in so many words - that the person feels like there is something wrong with them and like they are the sole human experiencing the particular challenge they are experiencing. And I can’t tell you the frequency with which I know with absolute certainty that they are not the only person going through what they’re going through, because I have borne witness to remarkably similar accounts from other clients. And considering I work with approximately 0.00000000001% percent of the world population, I think that’s pretty telling. Having a window into the less glamorous parts of being human has also transformed how I feel about my own raw and messy moments: I am getting quicker and quicker at remembering that I’m not the only person experiencing what I’m experiencing. And that is such a gift to go through life with. So I have a little exercise for you: If you have the mental and emotional capacity to do so, bring to mind one thing that has been hard in life lately Take a moment to reflect on whether this is something you feel isolated in Close your eyes and imagine thousands of people across the globe going through something really similar to what you’re going through. Picture them hearing your story, totally seeing you and getting it Assess whether this shifts anything in your body
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