Alright, I hope y’all aren’t tired of me talking about what I’m learning in therapy because I’m honestly just getting started 😅. Every single session allows me the opportunity to explore my past, present, and future in ways that I’ve never thought of before, and I love sharing it with you all. I know that therapy isn’t easily accessible for everyone or that some people may not be comfortable with going to a therapist, so I love sharing the exercises that I do in my sessions in hopes that you all can do them on your own time and learn about yourself as well.
Last week in my session, we worked on something called the “Best Possible Self Visualization Exercise”. I was instructed to get a piece of paper and make three categories: Best Personal Life, Best Social Life, and Best Professional Life. Together, my therapist and I explored what my future would look like if everything happened just the way I wanted it to. Now, I’d like to share with you what I wrote down for each category and what I learned about myself. So, let’s dive right in!
Best Personal Life
Okay, I struggled a bit with this category, but once I really took the time to think about the goals I have for myself, I had so much to say. For starters, I want to be free of all of my student loan debt. If you remember my vision board I posted earlier this year, that has always been a goal, and I can’t wait to finally live to see that day! Next, I thought about my marriage, and I decided that the best version of my personal life includes having a strong marriage. I would like for us to continue communicating effectively, respecting each other’s opinions, remaining honest, and experiencing new things together. Now, I know that it’s not always easy, but I would love for our marriage to be strong enough to withstand anything that tries to see us destroyed. I’ve heard too many stories about divorces, and I never want us to lose the love we have for each other.
My next vision for my best personal life is to be healthy mentally and physically. Of course, mental health issues don’t just disappear, but I want to have the necessary skills in my toolbox that I can pull out and use for any situation. So, if I have an anxiety attack, I want to have at least three different things that work for me that will help to alleviate my anxiety. Regarding my physical health, I just want to be healthy, live as long as possible, and feel comfortable in my own skin.
Best Social Life
This section was super easy for me because I’ve struggled so much with my social life that I know exactly what I want. Let me explain. If you remember my post from last year bout how I lost all of my friends, you’ll understand my hesitation for even having a social life. However, God saw fit for me to have a very small circle of friends after that situation, and my best social life involves continuing this trend of having meaningful relationships in my life — QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! I’ve been really enjoying my friendships lately, as they have been full of love, support, and loyalty. I’m truly grateful for how far I’ve come in my social life.
Now, my next vision of my best social life made my therapist chuckle, and it’s probably because I prefaced it with, “This might sound bad, but…” So, here goes. My best version of my social life involves me continuing to be distant and reserved from my extended family. Sorry, not sorry! I don’t really do family cookouts or anything like that because my family can be toxic sometimes, and that does no good for my mental health. And, quite to my surprise, my therapist says that it’s really amazing that I already know what doesn’t serve me, and being around toxic people no longer serves the person I am today, so I felt really good about that.
Best Professional Life
For my vision of my professional life, I knew exactly what I wanted that to look like. In my perfect world, I’m a blogger who works from home and has sponsorships from organizations that will help me in my goal to promote mental wellness and women empowerment. It’s a simple goal, but it’s one that I’ve thought about for quite some time now. So, since I have a goal in mind, I am going to work my tail off so that my dreams become a reality.
Final Thoughts
Once I had everything written down, my therapist asked me what my thoughts were, and the first thing I noticed is that my goals are actually realistic. None of these are too far-fetched or too “out there” — these are achievable goals, and many of them are already on the right track to becoming a reality because of the work I’d already put in. For example, I went to a financial literacy class and premarital counseling two years ago, so I’m already on the right path to becoming debt-free and having a strong marriage. Also, I’ve been consistent with therapy, so I’m definitely putting in the work to be healthy mentally.
Another thing I noticed that really changed my perspective is that I’m so proud of myself, which is super rare for me to say (more to come on that in a future blog post). My goals are setting me up for success, and I realized that even having these goals in the first place means that I value myself and my future. I care about myself enough to make plans and put things into action, which is really amazing to me. I’m so happy to be able to say out loud that I’m proud of myself.
My hopes are that you can do this exercise too and see what your best versions of each aspect of your life look like. Whether you struggle with this exercise or breeze right through it, I hope you’re proud of yourself too, just as I was when I did this. Please leave a comment if you plan on doing this or what you thought of the exercise if you’ve already done it!
“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.”
– Andrew Murphy
Love the post. The toxic family part is very insightful as it can be hard to admit that people we are taught to love can be the hardest to distance ourselves from. Great work! keep flourishing 💪
This post is so inspiring! It is important to reflect on different aspects of your life in order to figure out your best self.
Yes, my best self is achievable, as is yours. I’m so glad to have been introduced to this exercise and that I can use this platform to share this with others. Thanks for reading!
It’s interesting to hear what you are covering in your therapy sessions. I agree when it comes to friend quality far outweighs quantity.
I’m so glad you find it interesting! I’ll certainly be sharing more in the future. Thanks so much for reading and relating to the quality of relationships over the quantity!
This exercise must be good for me too. I struggled in my social life and the article is helpful in a way to slowly get out of toxic people.
Yes, it might be difficult, but you may feel a load lifted off your shoulders once you no longer entertain the foolishness of others.
Great post! It is good to work through what your idea of success looks like for you. It sounds like you have a solid handle on what you want. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope this helps you if you decide to try it out!
Family can be toxic sometimes but cookout are fun if they are not.
You’re right about that. Cookouts are so fun when we all get along and have a common goal of just being together and having fun! Thanks for reading 🙂
Congratulations for achieve your goals! I agree with keeping and having meaningful relationships than being surrounded by toxicity – I got rid of those a long time ago (life is peaceful after). I also agree with communicating effectively, most of the trials or problems that I’ve encountered were resolve by talking. Actually, it’s less about talking and more about listening.
Stay safe!
I love that — listening more and talking less can change your entire perspective. So glad your life is more peaceful as well after removing the toxins from your life. Thanks for reading!
I love this idea. It is crazy to think that the things we want in life seem so out of reach until you write them down and you realize they are actually pretty easy to obtain. I hope you get everything you hope for.
Exactly, thank you so much! I hope all of your dreams have come true already or are in the progress of becoming true! We all deserve it!
Amazing idea for a therapy. I would really need sometime to figure the best of myself
I love this idea. I am going to figure out and think really hard what would be the best me.
Love it! I hope you learn more about yourself along the way as well!
Wow that’s something interesting idea for a therapy . Loved the post
Definitely, thank you so much for reading!
wow! looks so very interesting, I would love to try it for myself, never heard of it before. my best self, it makes perfect sense.
Yes, please try it! It literally shifted my entire focus and let me know that I’m on the right track to accomplishing everything I want!
I would love to do the same. writing and journaling helps me a lot. It gives me clarity of the things I really want. And I love the quote at the end.
I love to hear from others that writing and journaling are beneficial for them. Thanks so much for reading and relating to the quote at the end!
What a great inspiring post. I agree, people can be toxic, so learning how to balance the quality of relationships is so important!
Thank you so much! Setting boundaries is necessary for our sanity, especially when it comes to people who may be toxic in our lives.