17/07/2026
From the therapist’s chair:
Half way through the session her shoulders dropped, and the fear that had showed in her face until then started to dissolve.
She thought her relationship was in tatters, she couldn’t see a way forward. Years of making excuses to herself for why she put up with it. Too many times berating herself for not speaking up and being saying ‘enough’.
She needed to change things. Not him, that wasn’t her job, and that itself was a revelation to her. She was beginning to understand, really understand, that not changing meant nothing would change. Big emotion had kept her stuck in that void for too long.
So she started. Slowly at first, gently without judgement, allowing the tears and the emotion to flow, acknowledging the dissonance held in her body, remembering, realizing, releasing.
So as the fear began to dissolve, and the shoulders dropped, she noticed her sighs deepening as though she hadn’t breathed properly for a long, long time.
Over time, with patience and determination she did things differently. Gradual but definite, clarity returning, gaining courage. Every day a new day.
She reached a point that we called adapting. The relationship found a new level, a different zone to be in where she could be happier, more content and sure of herself.
She didn’t need to walk away, she needed to find the woman she had forgotten how to be.