THERAPY FOR WOMEN IN HOUSTON, TX AND ONLINE

Therapy for For Women on an Alternative Path

(or those considering what that means to them) 

You’ve Taken the Path Less Traveled in Life, and You Love Where You’re Headed (Right?), but You’re Tired of the Questions 

When you’ve made or are contemplating a choice that has you swimming upstream in a sea of “shoulds” and expectations, others take note, and you are definitely not blind to their judgment of the path you’ve chosen.

Whether they’re full of pitying or confused looks or worse—questions—it can be grating on the soul to feel like you have to answer for a choice that’s incredibly personal and, quite frankly, not their business. Assumptions that your life is still waiting to begin because you don’t have a partner or is somehow less fulfilling because you haven’t chosen to reproduce are hurtful and can have you doubting yourself.

What if instead of being misunderstood, you felt celebrated?

What Choices Describe Your Path?

  • You’re [redacted age] and still not married, and everyone is all up in your business about it.

    “Have you got a special man?”
    “Are you ready to settle down?”
    “When will you tie the knot?”

    Whether you’re queer, poly, or just super not here for that whole marriage thing, you know that being an unmarried woman of a certain age (which could be any age in Texas) means that the questions are often more judgy than curious.

    Your relationship isn’t anyone’s business, but if you want to get them out of your business and make space for you, I’ve got you. In therapy, we can unpack this lifestyle timeline thing and move toward acceptance—no marriage required.

  • Whether you like them or not (no judgment here), you know for sure that you don’t want children. Or maybe you’re still deciding. But your family, friends, and maybe even your partner seem sure you’ll join the parenting club.

    This particular expectation weighs heavily on the minds of many women, and it can make you feel: guilty, deviant, mean-spirited, uncomfortable, afraid, or a whole host of other conflicting and complicated emotions.

    In therapy for women who are childless by choice (or maybe just unsure of what they want), we can talk about all those emotions, your decision, and the experiences that are guiding you.

    You don’t have to celebrate your certainty alone, or connect with one more person who thinks they know better than you.

  • Your love of learning spurs you to stick with the academic path you’re on, but the exhaustion of actually doing it certainly takes a toll. Your budget is tight, your days are long, friends are few, competition is fierce, and your to-do list is more like a carousel of tasks that never get done and just keeps on spinning.

    For the women who are driven by a hunger for knowledge that is unmitigated by the rules of educational engagement, a lifepath in academia may be stressful, isolating, and staggeringly expensive.

    Even with support from your colleagues or loved ones, academia can be a difficult path. Without support, that educational endeavor may become a weight you wonder if it’s worth it.

    In therapy for lifelong learners, we can address that judgmental feeling, so you can celebrate your studious self.

  • As you methodically followed the path laid out for you in life, you checked all the boxes: ☑college, ☑life partner, ☑kids, ☑job. But, what happens when you come to the end of that pre-scripted plan, and you still feel unfulfilled? Or, have to figure out what’s next?

    Maybe your identity feels a bit too wrapped up in your role as a mom or caretaker, and you long ago set aside the hopes and dreams you once had for yourself. Maybe the person that you recognize as YOU is buried under obligations and expectations for how your life should progress.

    What would you do if you could let go of what you should do? What would the whispers of your internal compass of honesty want for you?

    In therapy with me, you can be you. And you can dream of being something more. I’m here for it.

Your Choices Don’t Define Your Worth 

Despite what others may believe, the very core of your being is something to celebrate. None of these choices, expectations, alterations, or untraveled paths will or could change that. 

Even still, it can definitely feel that way when everyone around you is making assumptions that knock you off your A-game. You feel unsteady and a little bit more isolated every time someone you thought respected you asks a probing question. Expectations—and defying them—can be fertilizer for seeds of doubt in life. Particularly if you’re a people-pleaser or overachiever, these things can feel larger than life. 

But nothing is larger than living a life that means something to you. 
Your contentment, drive, and choices are the most important part of finding your fulfillment.

We can work everything else out in therapy.

“People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, ‘Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner.’ I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.”
— Carl Rogers

Choose to Celebrate

Your Authentic Self

I know that it can be difficult to stay the course when the world feels at odds with the identity, opportunity, or passion that fuels your truest self. It’s hard to love yourself when everyone questions you, and harder to love your life when you fear having to lead it alone because you're ready to make the right choices for you.    

But, you are not in this alone.

Alternative life choices often come with shame that’s rooted in bias, trauma, or even internalized stigma. All of these things suck, but they’re things that we can overcome by creating a supportive space that encourages you to celebrate all you are, exactly as you are.