I have always been a social butterfly.
In my 20’s I loved college parties, dancing all night and being with large groups of people. Maybe it was the closeness with my sorority sisters. Living in close quarters throughout college doesn’t give you much alone time but I didn’t mind.
After I moved to a new city (Las Vegas) and away from most of my friends I focused on my career as a therapist. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the Las Vegas nightlife while I was still young and single. I even worked 2 jobs at an average of 50 hours a week and still travelled and socialized.
Move forward to 2016 and I’m married, working part-time as a mental health therapist and blogger. Blogging has really turned me inward in order to remain creative. Although my husband and I travel often and enjoy spending time with friends and family on weekends, I really crave my quiet time to work on the blog.
And I hate this.
In one sense it’s beneficial because I’m not afraid to work, create, write and learn. Human contact is also important as a busy entrepeneur. Retreating to my shell too often isn’t healthy either (Did I mention I’m a Cancer too).
It’s as if “Focus On Me” has gone into overdrive. All this quiet time isn’t necessarily self-care time. I take my breaks and know my limits. I say “yes” to fun activities that I know will suit me and excite me.
Maybe this business is lonelier than I expected. Click To Tweet Thankfully Twitter chats and my Facebook groups provide the laughter, healthy feedback and flow of information necessary for growth.
In reality, therapy is also a lonely gig. You hear more heartbreak than success and can really only process it with your supervisor. You cannot talk in depth at home about client struggles or stories and basically have to keep work conversation at a surface level. In between sessions it can be hard to bounce ideas off colleagues because they’re swamped as well. This is one of the reasons I won’t enter private practice. My God-given extrovert personality wouldn’t survive.
Yet now I’m diving into the introvert pool.
I feel productive in this silence but still want to wade into your bangin pool party from time to time.
Do any other business friends or therapists sympathize???
Leave a Reply