Therapy is a wonderful experience for so many people. It's a tool that allows us to secure our own well-being with the help of a compassionate, engaged supporter sitting right across from us (in normal times, that is).
<p>And yet, many people are not in therapy. </p><p>That is the case for a vast array of reasons. Cost, insurance struggles, lack of time, simply not being ready--all are very real and legitimate reasons. </p><p>So a crowdsourced resource like Reddit can be helpful. </p><p>A recent thread offered anybody on the internet the chance to anonymously take a look at very real tidbits of wisdom from people's therapy experience. </p><p>It's not at all the same thing, but it's nice to dip your toes in this way if you're curious or hankering to talk about the things weighing on you. </p><p>Phaesphoric asked, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">"What is the most helpful thing your therapist has ever said to you?"</a></p>
<div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_1"></div>
Embedded
<p>"My therapist and I were discussing how I felt about a pretty deep betrayal from my now ex-wife. I was beating myself up for not seeing how bad she really was when there was plenty of evidence."</p><p>"He wrote down something on his yellow notepad and then held it up right in my face, practically touching my nose."</p><p>"He said 'what's that say?'"</p><p>"I couldn't read it; it was too close to my face. Stepping back from it a bit, it could read it said 'you're too close to see it.' He was right."</p><p>"I was too close to the problems and the situation to have been able to see it where in retrospect it was so obvious. I stopped beating myself up over it and was able to let it go."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8ww5am?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">LovesMeSomeRedhead</a></p><div id="0085a8a1-3e62-4eb3-add6-eda7bd18fcea"></div>
Loudly Yourself
<p>"I'm confined to a wheelchair. It's amazing how many people still look at you like you're a freak! I was told by my shrink of 15 years to smile big and say hi loudly."</p><p>"They'll either say hi or look away. Either way, I've made an attempt to humanize them to the disabled. If they don't, it's their problem."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wwin8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">cobra-man</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_2"></div>
Stay Present
<p>"Worrying about something that might happen just makes you miserable."</p><p>"It's great to have a contingency plan, but don't spend all your energy worrying about something that might never happen, just deal with it if it happens."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wlqj3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">carsonshall</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_3"></div>
No Need to Overhaul
<p>"'Maybe you can treat yourself like a person and not like a project.'" </p><p>"It changed my life. I'd been treating myself like something to fix, and seeing every little problem as evidence that I was a failure and a terrible person."</p><p>"I learned to give myself the same benefit of the doubt as I'd give any other human I met on the street. Humans make mistakes, including me—that doesn't mean there's issues to fix, it means I'm a person."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8xgizc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Robin3019</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_4"></div>
Address the Simple Stuff First
<p>"'You're not sleeping, you're missing meals, and you barely see your friends. It's no wonder you're depressed. You are barely taking care of baseline needs, my dude!'" </p><p>"She was right. I needed to actually take care of basic human needs before I could move up any higher on Maslow's hierarchy."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wbhx1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Accidental_Chemist</a></p>Where Do You Take It?
<p>"The lifespan of an emotion (the actual physiological sensations—adrenalin, heat in the face, tightness in the chest, rapid heartbeat, fists clenched, etc.) doesn't last very long. Emotions only last about 90 seconds or so."</p><p>"What keeps an emotion alive and lingering after the fact is the stories and the associated thoughts we tell ourselves about them."</p><p>"It's usually what we think <em>should have been</em> rather than <em>what it is</em> that causes us that extra suffering we're all too familiar with. And the longer we've been telling ourselves a certain story, the harder it is to "'just let it go."'</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wlyf7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">jwshyy</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_5"></div>
Mind-Body
<p>"That my mental health issues arise when my body is trying to tell me that i'm mentally exhausted. Just like when you don't get enough sleep, your body tells you that by making you feel tired, or hungry when you haven't eaten enough."</p><p>"When i haven't been giving myself enough down time, i've been super stressed trying to please everyone and meet everyone's needs, i burn out, and feeling depressed or anxious at nothing in particular is just a way my body lets me know that i need to look after myself."</p><p>"That I'm not necessarily broken or going to feel this way for the rest of my life."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8we88m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">MishaJBee</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_6"></div>
It Is a Choice
<p>"I'm not required to forgive anyone, especially from abuse. I can if I want to and it works for me but if I don't feel forgiving then I don't have to." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wa5fq?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">NorienneSedai</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"So important!! I hate how often people act as if forgiveness is the only way to be a good person or to move past something." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wjzxn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Phaesphoric</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_7"></div>
Small Pleasures
<p>"Mine said this in an offhand way, but it's stuck with me:"</p><p>"'Try to find something you enjoy in every day. Even if it's something small like taking a hot shower or going for a walk. If you start feeling down, you can think about what you enjoyed from that day, and recognize that you've done something nice for yourself.'" </p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wi2f7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">schoonerw</a></p><div data-conversation-spotlight></div>
Healthy Relationships
<p>"You cannot expect one person to fulfill all your needs and to be with you whenever you want them to." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8w7v6e?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">shieldsforcamelot</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Actually came here to say something similar. I had a therapist once tell me 'if you need someone you can't love them.'"</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Now, that statement was heavily based on context in that situation and my tendency towards co-dependence, so PLEASE don't take it as axiomatic." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmpei/serious_what_is_the_most_helpful_thing_your/g8wzetr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">OfficerWonk</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_8"></div>
<p class="">Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter <a href="https://mailchi.mp/knowable/knowable-newsletter-in-content" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>
Keep reading...
Show less
Image by Christo Anestev from Pixabay
A person's life is, at its core, an allotment of time. We each get roughly 80-100 years (hopefully) to enjoy human consciousness.
<p>We spend much of that time interacting with other people enjoying the same gift of life. We form bonds and learn ideas. We even make some of our own ideas and make a few contributions. </p><p>And as we spend that time we realize that we are SMALL. Really small. </p><p>In relation to the physical universe, of course we're tiny. But we're also small in time. </p><p>We spend our life learning about all the other human lives that came before us, and all their ideas and contributions. And we realize so many of the things that define our experience of life have been around for a whole lot longer than we thought. </p><p>And then we zoom out even further, and we see how old this planet is, with all these other living things of the past and present. </p><p>Make no mistake, so many of the things you touch each and every day are mind-boggingly old. And a recent Reddit thread put it all into perspective. </p><p>kakou64 asked, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">"What's older than we think ?"</a><br></p>
<div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_1"></div>
OG Tesla
<p>"The electric car."</p><p>"What is likely the first human-carrying electric vehicle with its own power source was tested along a Paris street in April 1881 by French inventor Gustave Trouvé."</p><p>"The first crude electric car was built in the 1830s but it was essentially a semi-functioning model."</p><p>"The electric car was a direct competitor to gasoline powered vehicles until the 1920s when roads got better, people started driving further than the range of an electric car, and the world started finding major oil reserves."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8w82pe?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Buwaro</a></p><div id="0085a8a1-3e62-4eb3-add6-eda7bd18fcea"></div>
The Schweppes Guy...
<p>"The first carbonated drink to be sold to the public was invented by Swiss watchmaker and amateur scientist J. J. Schweppe in 1783, who sold his delicious 'sparkling water' to thirsty customers in Geneva."</p><p>"In just seven years, he was doing business so fast that he moved the factory to London and introduced a new flavor, sparkling lemon, to stand out from competitors who were trying to imitate his drink."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wrzpc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">DarkSyrupp</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_2"></div>
Good Start
<p>"Beer is thought to be older than bread."</p><p>"It's much easier to fill a jar with wheat and water, let it ferment, and brew beer than it is to grind grain, mix it, and bake it."</p><p>-- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wl9v7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">4dseeall</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_3"></div>
Spark and Fuel
<p>"The fact that the lighter is older than the match shook my head as a kid. It also gave me the curiosity to question things that seems obvious." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wlg12?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Gyroklovn</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"When you think about it, it makes sense. The lighter is a simple mechanical concept: some flammable gas and a spark. The match, on the other hand, is a complex chemical reaction." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wrpn4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">2RoadsDiverged</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_4"></div>
Keeping 'Em Moving Since the 1800s
<p>"Escalators have been around since 1859, though they were called rotating stairs." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8w8kcs?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">KidHarvey</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Yet the US state of Wyoming still only has 2 of them." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wmbwm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">yearof39</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The 1859 design was called revolving stairs, but it was never built. The first working version was built in 1891 by Jesse Reno at Coney Island."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"At least that's what the Lehigh tour guides say." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wobl4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Pegasusbishop</a></p>Early Education
<p>"I was really surprised to discover when Oxford university was founded. They don't know the year for sure, but they know there was definitely teaching going on there in 1096." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wjgb9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">princess_mothership</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"One of my favorite facts related to this is that Oxford didn't even offer a calculas class for many years after it opened. It predates the invention by almost 600 years" -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8x5hl1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Jimothy_McGowan</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_5"></div>
Taking Care of Business
<p>"Fax Machines. They were invented in 1843. Before the telephone." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wcikt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Darpyface</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Came for this one. To put this in perspective, tumbleweeds aren't native to the American southwest, but by a quirk of history we know exactly which shipment of flax from Ukraine brought their seeds to the US... in 1877."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Commercial fax service has been around longer than tumbleweeds in the American southwest." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wsc86?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">raygundan</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_6"></div>
Never Too Early for Good Design
<p>"The ancient Romans (well, the wealthy ones) had central heating in their homes. You can actually still see the pipes in some of the buildings at Herculaneum!" -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8w4syk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">jazzman0116</a><span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"On top of that, if you ever get the chance to see how Roman homes were designed (window placement, ceilings, etc.) to naturally cool themselves... it's nothing short of incredible." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8w9n3t?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Mu-Relay</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_7"></div>
Claim to Fame
<p>"Flushing toilets date all the way back to the Indus River Valley civilization, back in 2000 BC" -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wbmhk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">steveguyhi1243</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Dude, I don't know anything else about the Indus valley civilization other than the f***ing plumbing, Indian history text books would not shut up about it."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"When I was a kid I used to wonder why are they still talking about the plumbing, there had to be something more interesting happening there other than people taking a sh** and then washing themselves in the intricate public pools while their shit is being transported by always flowing sewers."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Then I found out that that's all we know about those f***ers. Nothing else survived that was worth taking about other than the f***ing plumbing." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wpq4h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">another_one_bites459</a></p><div data-conversation-spotlight></div>
Not Horrifying, Just Old
<p>"Sharks. Sharks as a family are older than <em>trees" -- </em><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wjwvm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">PmMeUrBoobsPorFavor</a><span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The oldest evidence puts sharks in an era where the only multicellular plant was algae." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wzani?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">QuiGonJism</a></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I knew they were old, but damn not that old! I looked it up, and fossils are said to be around 450 million y/o. My contribution to this thread was Ferns (359 million y/o), but sharks are another 100 mill before that."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Mind = blown." -- <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jbmf8f/whats_older_than_we_think/g8wumhy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">Master_of_Rivendell</a></p><div class="ad-tag" data-ad-name="In_Content_Responsive_8"></div>
<p>Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here. <br></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
You May Also Like
Hi friend— subscribe to my mailing list to get inbox updates of news, funnies, and sweepstakes.
—George Takei
—George Takei