Do it yourself or get help?

[Cron]

Over the last year I have made some decent improvements in my life, but I have consistently dragged my feet in two areas that are important to me.

I am starting to think seeing a professional ( coach or counselor ) might help, but I have unresolved issues.

Part of it is ego, I would like to be able to say I pulled myself up and I think there is real value in learning to rely on your own resources. However, I haven't done that, I don't have a lot of support from other people in my life.

It also feels silly to pay someone to be accountable to them or be a cheerleader.
On the other hand, so what if it is silly if it works for getting me moving to where I want to be.

Thoughts? Advice?

[Angela]

Cron, I don't think it's necessarily a matter of relying on yourself vs. needing others. I don't even think it's a matter of hiring someone to be accountable to or to work as your cheerleader.

I think an experienced professional therapist or life coach can inspire you and help you to uncover your blind spots. These are very valuable tools for making breakthroughs, and they are worth paying for. Even supportive family and friends can't always inspire and unconceal, because you have trained them to see you in a certain way and they want to go along with that. A professional person won't be bound by the emotional and habitual ways of being that you and the people in your life usually are caught up in without even realizing it. The uninvolved person will help you to see the possibilities in your life that you haven't yet been aware of.

go for it!

[joelyle]

Hi,
I was fortune to have a trained therapist make me aware of Borderline Personality Disorder; as this was a friend: there was no financial investment. I took one of the attributes of BPD and put it into positive terms (wrote one aspect to work on/each day and repeated this for several months). If we believe we know issue and the cure: I don't believe we need professional help. These forums have been a great help to me. If we don't know either the issue or the cure: we need to go beyond ourselves. Books related to consciousness have helped me greatly. I am looking forward to speaking with/meeting members of this forum. Communicating in writing is great. In person would be more beneficial, of course. I find few people who are in a place to discuss PD. I do relate my experience and sense that it does not take seed. Personal initiative is necessary to act in positive manner.

[dayflyer]

I have had the opportunity to work with several wonderfully effective counselors, mentors, and therapists so far. I remember going through a really tough patch some years ago, if it weren't for the love and support of those around me, there is no doubt I would be lost, even now. But there is another side to this, not allowing friends or loved ones to help you really diminishes the quality of community and fellowship that you can have with them. If you hold back the parts of you that are the weakest, they can't really know you, let alone help you, and you will always feel isolated from them. So, my vote is, let someone help you.