They say that they become psychotherapists because of their own problems or traumas. I will talk about my path to therapy.
I grew up in a complete family: warm relations between parents, accessible interests and hobbies. I was loved and encouraged, talked to and played with. When I was nine, I had a younger brother. And I became more mature because of it - I became an older sister.
I, like many of my peers, planned to find my own way in life.
Who will you be, what do you want to do?
These questions arose before me even in childhood.
It seemed to me that I understood the main important principles of building an adult life. Such as: the influence of the environment, a good education, choosing a higher education institution, acquiring important skills, such as knowledge of foreign languages, etc.
Of course, I lacked experience in this matter - all these guidelines were too general, reasonable - yes, but not such that they really determine something.
Maybe I was too correct and careful and these features of mine blocked inspiration and creativity in creating some drastic changes in my own life. Now, looking back, I see that I controlled myself a lot where I should have chosen my own freedom and taken risks. But then it was safer not to fantasize, making life difficult for myself, but to rely on what I know and move from it.
I am an analyst by temperament, so I applied to the mechanical and mathematical faculty.
I liked student life. I became independent, and after graduating from university, I changed several places of employment.
It was a safe and gradual progression from one professional responsibilities to another. I had a job, but I had no passion for it.
After all, life put me in front of the obvious fact that we live only for a moment. And suddenly it became very dangerous and risky for me to spend every day on things that do not concern me. That summer, I decided to choose a different path - to do only what brings me pleasure, inspires and excites the process itself.
I became a Pilates instructor, and later my passion for working with the body led me to specialize in body-oriented therapy at the Institute of Gestalt Therapy MIGTIM.
That's how I got acquainted with psychotherapy.
This meeting greatly impressed me, even shocked me. I immediately understood that something incredibly important and powerful was in front of me. Something happened right before my eyes between the therapist and his client in the training sessions. And even in me, although I was only an observer. Something was moving and changing, and these changes did not require understanding in the usual sense. It seems that at that moment my perception of life changed - I realized the creative power of its paradoxicality. It is similar to the feeling of putting together a puzzle, as if all the parts of the whole have found their place, and it is this achieved integrity that pleases me, again and again.
I was lucky - I discovered psychotherapy for myself. And it changed my life.
