Depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, and hopelessness all begin to dominate the cast of characters and we find ourselves living stories that are not our own. Joy, intimacy, vitality, purpose, and vibrancy are held hostage somewhere in a chapter that we haven’t quite written yet.

In my fifteen years of clinical experience, when we don’t let ourselves tell our stories - when it feels as though speaking them is silly, stupid, or weak, or when the audiences that we have around us are unwilling or unable to really hear them - then the power inherent in their telling is lost and they start to write their own endings.