Is Christmas good for you?
Many people just don’t like Christmas. It’s not that they are Ba Hum Bug, they just don’t care.
There can be genuinely understandable reasons for this. So can a person who is just not into Christmas enjoy Christmas?
How do you have a happy time over Christmas when you’d rather it just didn’t exist?
And this is how I got my life back after Cancer?
Three months post-discharge from hospital. My cancer story seemed to come to an end. I was discharged from the day hospital. I had the internal tube removed that gave me chemotherapy during those 5 months as an inpatient.
While the significance of this was real, I truly was passed my direct cancer treatment. The cancer was gone, but my life was forever changed. I looked back, I tried to look forward, but in truth, I was still in shock.
On being Diagnosed with Cancer
This blog was written when I was in the early stages of being in hospital, being treated for cancer, the 2nd half of 2020..
In many ways, this reads as a diary entry where I outline the events of my illness, starting with pre-diagnosis and ending somewhere after my first of six rounds of chemotherapy.
I delve into the emotional and physical trauma of that time. What gave me strength and what made me weak. Relational and spiritual issues are highlighted.
This is all in the context of the initial 2020 lockdown, which meant I had to experience this painful medical world alone.
Anxiety; Where fear takes over
Anxiety is one of the most common topics raised in therapy. It is a debilitating condition that prevents a person from engaging with life. It is closely associated with depression and often co-exist.
There is a strong medical connection with anxiety, therfore medication is often a first stage of treatment. Medication however can become a near permanent part of persons life. Many people do not want this and will prefer to resolve their anxiety through psychological work. Such work identifies the triggers and helps to delope coping mechanisims to lessen their impact.
Violence in the Inner Man
Are men naturally violent? Is the aggressive response of men always a bad thing? There are lots of questions we have about men and violence. One thing that most will accept is that men are generally more aggressive than women and that this aggression can be very destructive.
The source of aggressive behaviour would seem to be partly learned through social expectations and partly biological through testosterone.
Counselling and the issue of money
Counselling fees may seem to be an awkward necessity. Awkward because the client may be operating within a strict budget. The counsellor aspires to provide therapy to those who need it while ensuring they make a living.
This blog goes through the principles around setting counselling fees and how to manage them. The fee structure of Prevail is also introduced.
What Gets You Up in the Mornings?
What is the daily routine of life for?
Is it to make a success of ourselves professionally, to make an impact on the world?
Is the success of our life to be detemined materialisticly?
Or do we get out of our bed every morning to improve somehow the lives of those around us?
Is our value what others hold of us or what we hold of ourselves?