The One Investment EVERYONE Should Make.

I’m not talking about money.

I’m talking about counseling or therapy.

I’m 100% certain this is not the first, nor will it be, the last blog that you come across that talks about the benefits of seeking mental health services.

I want to be raw and honest about why, even if you think you’re doing well and dandy, you should still consider seeking advice and the perspective of a counselor or therapist.

And if you’re not doing well and dandy, let this be the push and encouragement to finally seek help.

I wish I had sought this kind of help sooner because I would have addressed some very deep-rooted issues earlier and could have avoided lots of pain.

But alas, life has a way of making sure things always work out. And seeking help, either now or in the future, is always better than not seeking it at all.

So, why should you or anyone seek counseling or therapy?

1. Accountability.

Your counselor, if they are good, will hold you accountable and teach you how to hold yourself accountable.

Before I worked with my counselor, I suffered (occasionally still do) from perfectionism.

I would shame and berate myself for things not working out how I thought they should.

This attitude of perfectionism impacted many areas of my life. My studies in college, my friendships, my expectations for relationships and love, my expectations for being healthy, and my expectations for life in general.

I was of the mentality of all or nothing.

And since perfection is unattainable, I would let myself off the hook so many times for not following through with what I said I would simply because I didn’t turn out perfect.

My counselor taught me to stop looking at everything from a perfectionist lens and instead look at things from a ‘good enough,’ ‘did things get done’ lens.

Thanks to her being honest with me and telling me how I wasn’t getting anything done because of this, I started making real changes.

Now, I get things done. And I don’t chastise myself about them not being perfect.

I follow through with most of the things I say I’m going to do, and whatever doesn’t get done, I forgive myself for it and make a promise to get it done in the future.

This is called grace with standards.

A therapist or counselor can teach you to be graceful towards yourself but not let yourself off the hook every time you don’t follow through.

2. Actionable and applicable advice.

For your specific challenges.

Not everyone deals with the same struggles, and not everyone copes with said struggles the same way.

For example, I’m able to handle pressure at my job without it taking a toll on my mental health. But I struggle with difficult conversations with my partner, family, and friends.

My counselor knows this because she’s taken the time to ask questions about what I have a hard time with and how it makes me feel.

Thanks to this, she can give me advice that applies to my challenges and obstacles.

She’s been trained to deal with different kinds of perspectives, struggles, and points of view, so she’s able to give advice that can make a real difference.

A mistake I used to make in the past, which I know many of us have done and still do, is coming with serious questions and issues to family and friends.

As much as they may love you and want the best for you, most of our family members and friends are not trained mental health professionals who can offer advice that’s helpful for the specific struggle we’re dealing with.

This is a major reason why anyone should seek help from a therapist or counselor.

They have the tools to help you make real, permanent, and positive changes.

3. Developing crucial skills like self-awareness and self-reflection.

Therapy and counseling aren’t to sing kumbaya and pretend everything is great and dandy.

It’s to do hard work, face your wounded inner child, and change the bad habits you adopted from your traumas.

One of the reasons we cannot make lasting changes is that we lack the skills of self-awareness and self-reflection.

These skills are tough to acquire alone or with just the help of friends and family.

A good counselor, however, has different tools at their disposal that can help you get started on practicing and improving this skill.

Growing up, I was the least self-aware person.

I remember thinking that life was happening to me and there was nothing I could do about it.

Lo and behold, there are two crucial things I learned I can control in every single situation — what I think and how I respond.

After working with my counselor for four years, I believe I’ve gotten pretty good at this self-reflection thing, and thanks to that, I’ve been able to write on this platform.

The reason I gathered the courage to share my thoughts and the lessons I learned is because my counselor taught me to be curious about myself, my emotions and to evaluate life, the challenges I face, and the lessons I can learn from them.

Self-awareness and self-reflection are the pathways to figuring out what’s most important to you, what drives you, what inspires you, and perhaps most importantly, who you are and what you stand for.

That makes the help of a counselor and the investment priceless.

4. Having an unbiased, unattached third party’s opinion.

A counselor can ground you and give you advice that comes from a logical, unattached, and emotionally uninvested place.

In many situations, people would say this is unhelpful. Still, I’ve come to learn that many times, when we’re riding our emotional highs or lows, we get ideas and want to make decisions that we cannot foresee the consequences of.

When you’re honest with your counselor, they will give you a real, grounded answer, even if it’s not what you want to hear.

It is their responsibility and job to call you out on a poorly thought-out plan or decision that can have negative long-term consequences.

My counselor has called me out on this plenty of times, and I’m very grateful for it because she’s stopped me from doing some foolish things.

Thanks to her teaching me to be self-reflective and aware, I’ve been able to stop myself as well.

These things combined help me to stay grounded whenever I face challenges in any area of my life.

I would not have been able to accomplish important milestones if it weren’t for the guidance and teachings of my counselor.

For that reason, I always recommend that anyone, no matter where they may find themselves, seek out therapy or counseling services if it’s a viable option.

It’s the one investment everyone should make.