Awareness surrounding the importance of our mental wellbeing is increasing, but unfortunately there are still a lot of misconceptions and stigmas on the topic of mental health.

Amongst these topics, one of the most stigmatised is going to therapy. And yet, going to therapy is one of the most beneficial and useful tools available to become the best version of yourself!

So, if you’re seriously looking to level up your life and are wondering if therapy could be a good fit for you, take a look at our article and find out  why therapy can make you the best version of yourself. 

Therapy can provide insight into how past trauma is playing out in the present

Have you ever caught yourself in a situation where you feel emotionally drained, exasperated, burnt out and hurt, but you just can’t seem to pinpoint how you keep finding yourself in such unpleasant situations?

Why is it always you who finds themselves with an emotionally unavailable partner, or massively losing their temper, or being walked all over? 

If this resonates with you and you find yourself asking these questions a lot, there could be some underlying past trauma in your life that is attempting to play out in the present.

As frustrating as this is, believe it or not often this is our brains way of trying to help us.

Biologically, we are wired to seek what is familiar. So, even if ‘familiar’ is painful, the brain connects familiarity with safety, and so often looks to repeat these patterns, rather than looking for new experiences that may move us away from our conditioning towards something healthier that is better for our well-being.

The bottom line: unless addressed, painful patterns that have negative impacts on our lives can repeat well into our adult lives if they go unchecked. 

One way to avoid this is going to therapy, where you can learn to spot where these patterns are playing out in your life and stop them in their tracks.

One of the most important and useful skills therapy can teach us is pattern recognition.

This is actually a large part of the process of CBT, or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, where your therapist will teach you how to spot patterns of the past showing up in your everyday life so you can work through them.

The point of this is to help us notice our emotional triggers and see if the dots can be connected back to past wounds to dissolve their power in the present.

Even if you think you had a reasonably healthy childhood and life, you’d still be surprised at what you can uncover about yourself with the help of a therapist! 

Therapy can help you work on your ‘weak’ spots

First things first: it is important to remember that we all have our weak spots and imperfections.

Even if you wake up every morning with the intention of showing up as the best version of yourself, you’re still going to have things to heal and work on. That’s called being human.

But that being said, we can still prioritise showing up as the healthiest, most healed version of ourselves and own up to our baggage. That’s where therapy comes in.

Going to therapy is like having a personal trainer for your emotional health. Except, instead of building muscles, you’re building resilience, confidence, self-awareness, and compassion, alongside a bunch of other skills.

If you know there is a problem you want to work on, or a particular skill you want to develop, going to therapy is the perfect place to get to work.

In your therapist you’ll find both a mentor and an accountability partner, who can guide you through the process of self-development in a supportive and focused way.

Enjoy watching your inner emotional landscape begin to thrive as you learn to step up and take ownership of what is within your control, and set the rest free.

Therapy can help you to excel in your career

Therapy isn’t just a great place to work on your mental health; you can also see massive benefits in your professional life from paying a therapist a visit.

A therapist can help you refine what you want out of your career and create actionable steps to help you achieve your goals.

Equally, speaking with a therapist can help you build soft skills that can help you be more effective in the work place, including working on listening skills, empathy, time management and leadership strategies.

This is especially useful if you oversee team(s) of people in a managerial position, or if teamwork is a key component of your job, as the way you conduct yourself in the workplace will have a ripple effect that naturally extends to others.

That means, if you’re putting the time in to make your workplace as healthy and happy as possible, others in your team will naturally follow your example. 

Therapy helps you understand yourself and others better

Having a therapist to talk over things on your mind can help you understand and relate to both yourself and the world around you in a healthier way.

Not to mention, therapists are pros at getting you outside your own perspective, reducing your emotional reactivity and helping develop your empathy-all of which fosters healthier, happier relationships. 

Who doesn’t want better, more fulfilling relationships with the people they love?

Therapy can help fast tracking your personal development goals

Another way therapy can help make you the best version of yourself is by fast tracking your personal development goals. In fact, you could even go as far as to say therapy is one of the most efficient and practical tools you can use to reach your personal development goals and grow as a person. 

Think about it.

Let’s say you have a one-hour therapy session every week. That’s a whole hour a week completely committed to your personal development goals.

Pair that with the fact that you have a therapist to guide and focus you throughout these sessions each week, Whilst therapy isn’t always about quick fixes or short-term goals, dedicating that small unit of time to your goals is going to add up. 

Going to therapy forces you to do your inner work, in an environment that can ensure you’re looking at your life from a healthy perspective where you can receive support if you need it. It’s pretty much a win, win. 

Even on the days you feel you aren’t making progress (which are completely normal, by the way), you’ll be running laps around your past self who hadn’t yet taken the plunge and committed this time to themselves and their goals.

Therapy helps to build a good support network

Currently, we are living in a time of a mental health epidemic. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 4 people report feeling lonely some or all of the time.

There are many reasons for the rise of loneliness, and you should know if you’re feeling lonely you are never on your own. But if you are feeling lonely or struggling, having a therapist who you can talk through these feelings with could be a big help.

Human beings are sociable animals, and we need to feel as though we are part of the pack. Going to therapy is just one way you can begin to cultivate a healthy support network that can support you on your process of becoming the best version of yourself.

Trust us when we say the feeling of having someone unconditionally in your corner is no short of phenomenal. 

Going to therapy makes you braver

Perhaps a lesser-known reason therapy can make you the best version of yourself is that it undoubtedly helps make you a braver, more resilient person.

Showing up for yourself, even when you don’t feel like it, to put your life and character under the microscope takes courage. This is especially true if you’re struggling mentally.

Even if your mental health is in a good place and isn’t necessarily the focus of your therapy session, holding yourself accountable to any goal can be an incredibly daunting experience. 

So, if you’re one of the few who are brave and resilient enough to show up and do their work even when things are hard, we commend you.

You’re breaking patterns and habits others in your life are often not brave enough to even acknowledge, let alone face, and that takes guts. 

If you have been wondering if paying a visit to a therapist would be a good idea, we hope this article has given you some insight into just how amazing the benefits of going to therapy are to inform your decision.

Unfortunately, the stigmas and outdated attitudes towards therapy often put people off trying therapy and can even stop people reaching out for help when they need it.

But going to therapy really doesn’t mean anything about you, other than you’re a person who is smart enough to understand the importance of their emotional wellbeing and personal development goals.

If you think it would be a good fit for you, why not leave any misconceptions you may have at the door and give therapy a try?

Who knows, you may just learn for yourself what a useful tool therapy can be to unlock the best version of yourself. 

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