Douglas Ovenstone
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS17-05282
Location: Kirkcaldy
To be honest, many years ago I would probably been one of those people who didn't see the sense or purpose of counselling. Over the years, as I took on life's challenges and burdens, I began to wonder what happened to the young carefree me.
I began to look at myself taking on the stresses and strains in my life, my perspective began to change. I saw I had perhaps lost some of my direction, self-belief and self-doubt began to creep into my life, feelings of "am I good enough" surrounded me.
I found myself wearing the mask of what I thought everyone expected me to be rather than who I wanted to be. This led me into internal conflict, I wanted to be something, but everyone else expected me to be something different. As such as the inner conflict grew, I found myself losing sight of the true me...
Personal counselling with a professional allowed me to tell my story, without opinions and interruptions, without other viewpoints. A place where I could go and it was all about me, about my emotions, about my feelings. A place where I could explore and perhaps begin to revisit the real me. A place where I could talk without being judged and feeling accepted and understood helped me to see what makes me tick. It reminded me what is important, what I can control, and allowed me to explore what was out of my control... It was liberating, it freed me from my normal way of being, it allowed me to look at what I wanted. It allowed me to grow and understand and accept myself.
As the awareness of self grows throughout therapy, it becomes easier to identify your own ways of being, easier to see my own patterns of behaviour, it allowed me to see, understand and accept why I feel what I feel on a day to day basis. It allowed me to understand me.
During my many hours of study around theories and concepts, I saw traits of all my life, and connected the theory to myself... Indeed, we are a product of those around us, and we have that awareness we have the ability to change...
Counselling is indeed the path to change, if there is something (or several things!) in your life that make you feel uneasy, unsure, scared, anxious or "not good enough" I would absolutely say counselling is for you... I fully recommend it...
As one of counselling main founding theorists said -
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Carl Rogers (On becoming a person)
