Life By Design Counseling

08/29/2026

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08/24/2026

Feeling stuck doesn't always mean you're trapped.

Sometimes it means you've been trying to solve an impossible problem by yourself.

Trauma often teaches us to think in extremes:

"I either stay forever or leave tomorrow."

"I either have all the answers or none at all."

"I either know exactly what to do or I'm helpless."

But healing creates room for a third option.

Curiosity.

One conversation.
One boundary.
One journal entry.
One appointment.
One deep breath.

Tiny steps may not feel dramatic, but they have a way of changing the direction of a life.

08/21/2026

You think if you sit down and say it out loud, you'll have to leave.
Tonight. This week. Right now.
So you stay quiet. You keep functioning. You keep waiting until you're "sure enough" to face it.
But naming what's happening to you doesn't mean you have to make a decision today.
It just means you stop carrying it alone.
You can sit across from someone who believes you. Who doesn't flinch. Who doesn't rush you toward an exit sign before you're ready to walk through it.
Strength doesn't always look like leaving.
Sometimes it looks like finally saying the thing you've been afraid to say. Sometimes it looks like finding your voice again, one small true sentence at a time.
The decision will come. In its own time. In your time.
But movement can start now.
You don't have to have the plan. You don't have to have the courage to leave yet.
You just have to be willing to sit with someone who will hold space for you while you find it.
That's what I'm here for.

08/21/2026

You think if you sit down and say it out loud, you'll have to leave.
Tonight. This week. Right now.
So you stay quiet. You keep functioning. You keep waiting until you're "sure enough" to face it.
But naming what's happening to you doesn't mean you have to make a decision today.
It just means you stop carrying it alone.
You can sit across from someone who believes you. Who doesn't flinch. Who doesn't rush you toward an exit sign before you're ready to walk through it.
Strength doesn't always look like leaving.
Sometimes it looks like finally saying the thing you've been afraid to say. Sometimes it looks like finding your voice again, one small true sentence at a time.
The decision will come. In its own time. In your time.
But movement can start now.
You don't have to have the plan. You don't have to have the courage to leave yet.
You just have to be willing to sit with someone who will hold space for you while you find it.
That's what I'm here for.

08/19/2026

Some things you can't learn from a textbook.
You have to have lived them.
Felt the confusion. The second-guessing. The way your own reflection started to feel unfamiliar.
I'm a licensed therapist. That training matters, and I don't take it lightly.
But when it comes to narcissistic abuse, my expertise didn't start in a classroom.
It started in the wreckage. In the slow climb back to myself. In learning, the hard way, what it takes to trust your own mind again.
I'm currently completing my certification in narcissistic abuse recovery, because this work deserves more than instinct. It deserves precision. It deserves both.
But I already know the terrain. Not because I studied it from the outside.
Because I walked it.
So when you're looking for a therapist, don't just ask what they cost. Don't just ask what insurance they take.
Ask if they know this. Not from a lecture. From having lived it too.
You deserve someone who knows this work, inside and out.
That's the practice I've built. Still growing. Still becoming. Still exactly what you need.

08/17/2026

Who Am I When I Look Fine But Don't Feel Fine? Living with an invisible illness can leave you grieving the person you used to be while learning to show up differently. In this post, Lisa Elliott Schumacher explores identity shifts, flare-ups that remind you you’re not “fine,” and practical steps toward self-compassion and meaning. Read more: https://wix.to/MnBCpqL

Some days you forget you're sick, until a flare reminds you. A look at identity, spoon theory, and the quiet grief of chronic and invisible illness.illness means constantly explaining needs that don't show on the outside, and quietly grieving the person you were before. Here's what that identity shi...

08/17/2026

Part of you wants to keep pretending you're fine.

Part of you is exhausted from pretending.

Part of you is scared to say it out loud. Part of you is more scared of staying silent another year.

You don't have to pick a side today.

You just have to be willing to sit with someone who won't ask you to have it all figured out first.

If that's where you are, I'd be honored to support you.

Link in comments to request a free 15 minute consult.

08/16/2026

Some of my clients come to me still in the fog.
Still sorting through what happened. Or what just ended.

Others come to me years later.
The relationship is long over. Life looks better now.
But the scars are still there.

They want to hope for something healthy.
They're afraid it could happen again.

Some are already in a new relationship, and the triggers are showing up anyway.

"Shouldn't I be over this by now?"

I hear that question a lot.

But healing isn't a deadline. It's not a line you cross and never look back.

This is part of the work.

Learning to tell red flags from triggers.
Learning to navigate the difference without losing yourself in either direction.

Learning what a healthy boundary actually feels like in your body, not just in your head.

You're not behind. You're not broken.
You're healing.

https://www.lifebydesigncounseling.com/

https://therapyfinder.com/therapist/lisa-schumacher-counseling-bolingbroke-ga

08/13/2026

One of the most common things I hear during a consult call or a first session is:

"I don't even know where to start."

My response?

"That's okay. We'll figure it out together."

You don't have to arrive with your story neatly organized or your thoughts perfectly articulated.

You bring your experiences.

I'll bring my training, curiosity, and a safe place to help make sense of what you're noticing.

We start there.

One conversation at a time.

https://therapyfinder.com/therapist/lisa-schumacher-counseling-bolingbroke-ga

https://www.lifebydesigncounseling.com/