Frustration is a familiar feeling no matter who you are. No matter what age, gender, nationality, or spirituality you identify with, you know what it means to feel frustrated. It’s also likely that you know that frustration rises inside us when we want a certain outcome from our efforts and, for whatever reason, we do not achieve that outcome.

If you have a strong enough “why” you can endure any “how.” This is a paraphrased idea courtesy of Friedrich Nietzche that I find to be very true in life. But man! Constructing a “why” strong enough to do something difficult can be pretty tough in our adult lives (for example, I procrastinated on writing this blog post), let alone our children’s lives.

The way self-care is portrayed in the media today is a double-edged sword; I am glad that the idea is widespread, but I’m afraid the way self-care is presented to folks these days is lacking substance. We hear things like “love yourself” but honestly, that’s pretty vague! What does that actually mean, and how do we go about doing that?

A relationship with a therapist is unlike any relationship that you have with anyone else in your life. Therapy is a place in which you, at regular intervals, go to be with an individual sworn to confidentiality in order to examine your struggles, your life, yourself in a way that is productive and actionable. You go to therapy to dig into the deepest, scariest parts of your mind! You confront  trauma, fears, doubts, and thoughts that are holding you back; you dive into them, look around, think about them in a few dimensions, then you decide what you’re going to do about them.

Exercise is good for everyone. In a world racked with uncertainty, this statement holds truer than most. Exercise looks different for everyone; you could be training for a marathon, or training to walk a 5k. You could play a few holes of golf on the weekend, or you could be doing a mile run followed by 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 200 squats, followed by another mile run. But no matter what and how much you are doing, you will very likely benefit from it.

“Good Job!” is so entrenched in our brains as a parenting phrase. Many parents (myself included) use it all the time. I would go so far to say that the only parents who don’t say “good job” to their children are the ones deliberately trying to avoid saying it. As ridiculous as it may sound, this blog is going to tell you why you should do just that, and the types of phrases you can try replacing it with.

If you are a parent staring down the barrel of the decision on whether or not to medicate your child for ADHD, it is very likely that you are feeling overwhelmed. I have found that many of the articles and studies we research do not include what families can really expect when they embark on that journey, or what they can expect if they don’t. Many studies and statistics that state medication treatment in addition to therapy for ADHD is very beneficial. I, too, am a believer in this idea, but that was not always the case, and of course every child, family, and situation is different; this is really important to keep in mind as you read this post. I want to share with you some information about ADHD and treatment thereof, as well as my personal journey of growing up while trying to figure out how to manage my diagnosis.

If you are depressed you are living in the past.

If you are anxious you are living in the future.

If you are at peace you are living in the present.

-Lao Tzu

The quote above is one of my absolute favorites. I often wish this quote had found its way to me sooner in my life because I think it (as any great quote does) gave me clarity on something that I had observed, but never synthesized into an actual idea. There are other quotes and references that address this same concept, but this is the only one that spells out to us that depression and anxiety are both remedied by your own actions; actions that can only be taken in the present.

At Ensemble Therapy, we care deeply about the “why” behind our practice of counseling. We believe there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to counseling; each therapist views the counseling process and their clients through a unique lens formed from years of education and experience. This means that as a client, you can choose the counselor who is the best fit for you or your child. While this freedom to choose the best-fit may sound nice at first, it can be difficult to know how to choose when there seem to be so many ways to do therapy. Not only are there lots of theories on how to practice counseling, often the language behind counseling theories is difficult to understand and apply without any previous background knowledge.