How Ditching the Self-Help Materials Made Me Happier
Is there such a thing as too much self-help?
Don’t get me wrong, I needed the support and guidance I got from self-help materials, they were the easiest and cheapest way to access any kind of therapy. Indeed they transformed my life but, over time, they became a big part of the problem.
I went through a tough spell a couple of years ago, with a family breakdown, depression and a general sense of WTF was all this about. I had turned 50, my only child had left home, and the pandemic hit — it was a perfect storm of shitty things.
Shortly after the pandemic, I finally managed to sell a house after two years of trying and I had a bit of money in the bank, so I left my teaching career and started a journey of introspection and therapeutic activity.
I started doing daily guided meditations on Insight Timer and I immersed myself in new age activities. I still love all this stuff and it definitely has its place in my life but I had to let it go for a time. The constant self-reflection kept me embedded in my trauma. It was a daily reminder that things had been bad. It wasn’t moving me on, even though I felt ready for it.
I remember wondering why I wasn’t feeling any better. The answer was that it was down to me to just let it go. A…
