I’ve always felt as though understanding people has been like second nature to me, but the drive to help people often came from a place of frustration and disbelief. “Why can’t you see that your past trauma is preventing you from forming stable relationships? It’s so simple!”

All my life I have preached about how best to behave in order to become a better person. The idea of becoming a person who could do this on a professional level was out of reach; restrained by a strange and yet widespread belief that only the weak go to therapy.

My generation is not one to welcome the mentally ill with compassion and understanding. Instead, many try to tell you to soldier on when you’re hurt, that your problems can be solved through strict discipline, and that anything beyond that doesn’t exist. And I believed them.

It wasn’t until I turned 40 that I realized that these social constraints only apply to me because I let them. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought, what mattered was how I felt and what I believed. So, I broke free of the chain I had subconsciously attached to myself and took a chance on studying psychology… and it has been the best decision I’ve ever made!