Monday morning ever find you low on enthusiasm? Here you are self employed, generally a good thing but some days you feel the weight of all the decisions on your shoulders. Having your own business entails enormous responsibility, strength and focus. One of the glories of being self employed is you are in charge and making your own decisions, not having to answer to someone else. One of the draw backs of owning a business is how all consuming a business can be. For example, it can be hard to know when to quit at the end of the day. When you worked for someone else it was easier to leave the office at 5 o’clock, then it is to leave the garage or den or office you work in now. Continue reading
The tearful woman across from me was struggling to understand why being a mother left her feeling bad about herself. She asked me to recommend a parenting book that she might find helpful. As a therapist I generally shy away from recommending self help books, too often they leave the reader frustrated. I decided to put my opinions aside and take a trip to a local bookstore. I wandered over to the Parenting section to browse. I was assaulted by the message conveyed by the titles, do more, be more. Reading these books might offer some helpful hints, but the endless simple steps offered could lead to feeling inadequate. What would it say about me if I bought Parenting for Dummies? Perhaps I would leave I better impression if I purchased I Refuse to Raise a Brat. Surely that would be a socially acceptable goal. Continue reading