Life Jacket

I do not want to be anyone's Life Jacket, Anchor, Strength. I am not anyone's Life Jacket, Anchor or Strength. I do not want to be held on a pedestal or the person with some sort of magic wand. I just want to be ordinary, normal, me. Lately, I have been called these terms by some of my patients. I do not want to live up to these terms. I work hard. I advocate. I am not a Life Jacket. The only Life Jacket in the room is them. I guide. I do not fix. I can't change anyone. They can only change themselves. It makes me very uncomfortable to be referred to in these terms. It is not a lack of self-esteem or poor self-worth, it is being viewed as some unique being, guardian angel, held above and I am not any of those things. I am simply human. I care. I have compassion and empathy. I believe in people and chose to see the positive instead of the negative. I know what it feels like to be hurt, judged, avoided. I work with a population that is used to society looking down upon them, judging them, avoiding them. They come from places of very low self-esteem and poor self-worth. They cannot even identify one positive thing about self.

Then, someone like me comes along.

Look for the solution and not the problem. Keep it moving.

I am often asked if I am in recovery. The answer surprises a lot of people. I am not in recovery but I know what addiction can do. I have had struggles with depression but I have come out of the dark tunnel and entered the sunlight. I believe in moving forward. I really believe in moving forward. I also believe that I cannot control how someone thinks, feels or behaves but I can control how I think, feel and behave. I can act instead of react. I try to model behavior. I am authentic. I do not sugar coat or lie.

What a sense of freedom it is not to believe we can control another person!

What a sense of freedom it is to not take on someone else's stuff!

I am not a Life Jacket. I understand you took a train from Western Pa to have me as your therapist. However, I am human and my name is Pat.