I don't have time for therapy....

Reasons to not contact a therapist #4: I’m too busy to fit this into my life. I don’t have time.

I would argue that, yes, you do have time, you just don't see it as a priority.

I'm as guilty as anyone of operating under the "I don't have time" paradigm. However, I always seem to have time to watch my few favourite TV shows every week - at present it's Strictly & It Takes Two - and The Big Bang Theory started back last night, so that's another mild obsession to find time for. I can always seem to find time to read, meet friends for coffee, spend time by the sea etc as well as finding time to go shopping, do laundry, attend to chores and all the other necessary, mundane stuff that life entails. Amongst all this though, I find time to go to therapy. Because it matters.

I have realised that making time for my emotional well-being is a priority. It's taken me until I'm 47 but I've done it.

Maybe we're taught, societally, to always focus first on other people, meeting their emotional needs, catering to their whims, obeying every single obligation we feel without question, always thinking about others first.

But what about you? Who's taking care of you?

Before my training, I was a stranger to the concept of self-care. I'd heard about it, I knew about it as a notion, I realised the validity of it, I was just under the impression that applying it to myself was frivolous and self indulgent. A luxury I didn't need or deserve.

I was wrong.

Even through my years of training I struggled with it until someone couched it in very simple terms: "Damian, you can't pour from an empty jug." No, you really can't.

Therapy is an hour a week. One hour out of a hundred and sixty eight. It could occupy one lunch hour a week. It could be one session after work a week. It could be a Saturday morning while the kids are at football training. One hour a week which could transform how you feel.

I would argue that your life, your well-being, your mental health and simply YOU are more than worth making yourself a priority for one hour a week. We can all find time, it just depends on what our priorities are.

Could you make yourself the priority, for just an hour a week? I think it might be worth it.