Trusting Your Own Voice

Your growing awareness of the therapeutic process is itself a powerful tool—you're learning to recognize when your protective parts need attention and how to approach them with the same patience Rachel shows you.

“I've been doing like so much analysis of the last like maybe 20 sessions that you and I have done... I can see what you're doing. Like you, you try and find like an entry point... you've found a strategy to engage with the parts that works consistently”

Healing doesn't require perfect certainty—it requires consistent presence, curiosity, and willingness to discover what works for you in the moment.

“It's also so funny because it's like every time I get on it's like, hm, what are they gonna throw at me today and like am I gonna find, you know, like you're always like, am I gonna find that like point of entry?”

You're learning to be for yourself what Rachel has been for you—a gentle, steady presence that helps you slow down enough to feel what's really there.

“the pattern you use of slowing me down to feel, um, is highly effective. So thank you... You do it so you do it so often. Slow down, feel without ever saying slow down and feel”

Your stubbornness is information—it tells you when something matters deeply to you and when you might be protecting against old experiences of being dismissed or invalidated.

“it makes me think of I think like sometimes when something is deeply personal, right? Like we are stubborn about it, or sometimes I think when we have a history of something being invalidated... We do quote unquote die on that hill because it's so important to us”

You've discovered what you need to heal: gentle, consistent care that respects your pace and honors your protection. This knowing is a gift you can give yourself and extend to others.

“I feel like Rachel in a year, in what is it 18 months now, like you and I have made. More progress than I've done in a decade of therapy, and I, I believe that a big part of that is, is the, the approach that you, that you use of like approaching trauma, approaching me and trauma just like very delicately and gently”

Your insistence on certain approaches isn't stubbornness—it's you protecting what you know works because you've experienced it yourself. That's wisdom, not rigidity.

“you want that, I think what you're saying is like, you want that care to translate into what you're making... And it's important to you, it's important clinically and”

Different communication styles don't always mean rejection—sometimes people just process and respond differently than we do.

“You're married to an engineer, you know exactly what I'm talking about... We had a conversation the other day and I was like, da da da, and he was like, I can't do anything about it. I don't have any thoughts and feelings about it”

You don't have to be 'fully healed' to be capable and successful. You can be both healing and building something meaningful—these aren't mutually exclusive.

“you know that you're capable despite... And to be treated in that way, yeah, is, I mean, has to be really hard. Because I think, right, there's this part of you that knows you're capable, and there's also this part of you that, right, yeah, is still working through that belief”

You can feel frustrated with your patterns and still love the parts of you that create them—both feelings can be true at once.

“as soon as I see, as soon as I have distance from them and can see what they're doing, so much love for them... everyone is doing their best all the time”

You have the power to decide what kind of trust and vulnerability you offer in each relationship. This isn't settling—it's choosing wisely.

“God, Rachel, swinging for the beaches here... That was powerful, holy shit”

Competence and self-doubt can coexist. Recognizing good work—in yourself and others—is a skill worth developing.

“It's a profound decision, Rachel. You came in here old self-doubt and look at us”

Your ability to see and affirm value in others is a strength—and you deserve to turn that same generous lens toward yourself.

“I think you have excellent training or at least understand your training really, really well and I think in moments when you maybe don't know where to go, I... feel like you default to your training and it works”