Guy at my gym told me therapy is for people who couldn’t handle the “strokes” of life. I’m a therapist. I still don’t know if I handled it right.
this happened today and I’m still processing it.
I had my earphones in. Not really in the mood to chat, just wanted to workout. But this guy at my gym kept trying to talk. More of I just want to talk to someone.. Small talk at first, where you from, how long you been coming here. I kept taking my earphones out because he kept trying to engage with me but by asking me questions.
Eventually he asks what I do. I tell him I’m a therapist.
He says something like therapy is for people who couldn’t handle the “strokes” of life. People who can’t take it. I was confused and I asked him that strokes? He said yeah people who couldn’t handle the tension and stress. ( tbh I was literally relieved at this point that thank god, he didn’t actually mean strokes )
I’ve been doing this for 5-6 years now. Over 5000 hours between private practice, corporate consulting, group sessions, training programs.
And here’s the thing I can’t stop thinking about. I didn’t push back. I got curious instead. Asked him why he felt that way, what shaped that view. Some mix of instinct and actual empathy kicked in before I could even decide what I wanted to do.
Was I offended? Yes. Did I still choose to understand him instead of correcting him? Also yes, more than I was offended
Now I keep going back and forth. Did I do the empathetic thing because that’s genuinely who I am, or did I use empathy as a shield so I didn’t have to have an uncomfortable conversation defending my own profession?