What's with the stigma about going to therapy?

We live in a pretty heavy social media world. A world with filters and edit buttons and photoshop, and instagram and facebook and the ability to choose what we share and what we keep private. Your followers and your friends see your page, see your celebrations, see your perfect house and perfect clothes and begin to believe you have the perfect life.

But let's be real--that's not real life. Real life is messy. Real life is hard. We all know that. So why don't we talk about it? Why is it such a secret that sometimes working, taking care of a family, taking care of ourselves, AND taking care of other adult responsibilities is hard. Especially if we all feel this way?

It's really easy to come home from work, sit your butt on the couch, scroll your social media feeds all night, and be resentful toward other people who appear to have it all together. It can make us angry, or sad, or anxious when we don't have what other people do. So we stew, and we stew, and we stew, until finally we boil over.

You know that something doesn't feel right, you're not yourself. But you don't know what to do. How to feel better. How to get back to being you. You might want to reach out for support, but secretly hold this shame that someone could find out about it. That you're a fraud. That you struggle in a world that tells you every day you need to be perfect. So you don't reach out. You continue to stay in routines and patterns that make you feel like crap instead of making yourself feel better by talking to someone who truly gets what that's like.

That's the stigma that society places on us and we place on ourself. The stigma that holds us back from living our best life. Even though everyone experiences the same damn stuff, no one feels comfortable talking about it.

*NEWSFLASH* Life is not perfect. Let's stop pretending and get real. Think about bullies in middle school or even high school. Did you let them bully you always? Or stand up for yourself? Bullies typically are people who are insecure with what they have or don't have or are jealous of something that you have. So let's change the perspective of our situation by flipping it. 

You are courageous for seeking support. You are strong for standing up and recognizing that you need to make changes in your life. You are unstoppable when you finally make the call to do something about it. Haters gonna hate, baby. Let's do this.