That Time I Accidentally Flashed a Client

This is the story of a girl, who just wanted to be seen as a professional, respectable therapist but life kept getting in the way.

It was a bright, sunny summer day. She was doing her therapist thing, meeting with clients and helping with their life crises. She was feeling good and comfortable in her fun sundress. People were opening up, breakthroughs were occurring and her level of confidence was sky-rocketing. She was nailing this day!

Everything was going smoothly, until about midway through her day in the middle of a session, she felt a “pop” and looked down to see the strap of her sundress had popped off — revealing much more to the client than she had planned.

“Well, that’s never happened before!” she jokes, quickly pulling up the dress. She and the client awkwardly laugh and the therapist shimmies her shoulder back into the dress holding it haphazardly into place for the duration of the session.

“No problem!” she thought, “I was a Girl Scout! I came prepared. I have a sewing kit!”

She rushes the client out of session to quickly sew the dress back up before the next session time starts, only to find the sewing kit is missing the needle. “Figures” she sighs, “I was always a lousy Girl Scout.”

Although she felt defeated, this therapist is no quitter.

“Fall seven times, get up eight!”

So off she goes into the next few sessions with her cardigan pulled tight and her one strap dangling.

I am that therapist and this story is one of resiliency, perseverance, and laughter. I work with people who can be so stuck in anxiety and fear that a faux pas like this could stop them in their tracks. Learning to laugh at ourselves and accept our humanness is crucial to thriving in life.

If I, as their therapist, am not able to model this skill for them, then what are they really paying me for?

So, I explained with each client what the problem was with my wardrobe and they all laughed and moved past it. People are generally more forgiving of others than we are ourselves.

Laugh at the mistakes and slip ups in life. It’s what makes life exciting!