private parts
Im in therapy. I go and seek out specific therapists and schools of therapy when I feel I need a "tune-up" or when I have a goal in mind. I am also a firm believer in the notion that my mental health is just as important as my physical health, so I make sure to give it equal attention.
I like the idea that taking care of your mental health is just like maintaining a car - you need to maintain it with oil changes or change up the parts now and then. Different therapies take on different roles and use different methods to help maintain the parts of your mental health, but they all have one goal in mind: helping us become more aware of ourselves and our habits, so we can better manage our thoughts and behaviors. It might sound complex, but it's just a bunch of small parts working together to make a bigger whole operate more smoothly.
Therapy helps me understand where my thoughts are coming from, how they might be affecting my behavior, and how I can address them with healthy strategies. In other words: it's like I'm my mechanic, tinkering away at all the small parts of myself to help them work better together. Maybe you don't need an oil change every time something goes wrong with your car - but many times, giving it some TLC can prevent bigger problems down the road. Just like that, working on our mental health can save us from major issues in the future.
I'm going to be exploring a school of therapy called The Internal Family Systems model. It was devised in the 1980s by psychotherapist Richard Schwartz to help people better identify and work with their internal parts. It's all about understanding the different, often conflicting sides of ourselves and learning how to bring them into harmony.
It's an approach that looks at all the parts of my identity to help me learn more about myself, and ultimately make more conscious decisions about how I think and act. I'm excited to start tackling my own "parts" and "resources," as well as look at how each one impacts my life. These parts are the inner caregiver, the critic, the drill sergeant, the defender, the wounded child, and the procrastinator, just to name a few. We all have these "parts" in us and they can be helpful or they can be destructive. The IFS model will help me understand which parts are helpful and which ones are not, so I can make more conscious choices about how to think and act in the world.
As I’m getting older I see my mental health as something that will have ongoing attention - and it's not just a one-time fix. It would be like like giving a car a new coat of paint instead of just getting it washed, detailed, and serviced regularly - each part works together for the greater good! IFS will also allow me to get to know my "parts" and recognize when certain parts are more active than others, all of this is so I'll have a better understanding of how to keep them all in balance so they can continue working harmoniously or when to give some parts rest and ask other parts to take a step back.
Therapy is an amazing way to explore different parts of ourselves and use them as a tool to help us reach our goals. With the right therapist, guidance, understanding, and support, anyone can become a mechanic for their mental health. A good therapist will guide you, and show you the tools, but you have to do the work. I'm looking forward to learning how to work with these diverse and sometimes conflicting parts, to be able to form healthier relationships with myself and others.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that taking care of your mental health is a long-term investment. Just like taking good care of your car with regular maintenance, therapy can help you keep everything running smoothly! So check in on yourself often and see what types of “tune-ups” might be necessary.
That's why I'm here - just giving my mental health some much-needed TLC.
