(((((((((((78))))))))))))))

Yes, I can SO relate. There have been times I've come home and my husband has said I looked "shell-shocked".

And for me, its just what you said - the pain of opening up, being vulnerable, feeling those feelings, and then having to re-enter the world in that state.

T and I try to take time at the end of session now to help me get re-grounded. I will usually ask him to tell me a story, and he does...something funny that happened, or something cool he found online, or whatever...and it helps ground me back into THIS world, and bring me back from wherever therapy took me. Sometimes after he tells me a story, I'll tell him one, and that helps too...it reminds me of the parts of my life that AREN'T therapy. If I can get a *little* regrounded before I leave, sometimes the rest of the day is a little less painful.

Yesterday, when I left, I was still in a yucky place, so i called my best friend. I just told her that I had left therapy and needed to talk to someone from "this world". She has a lot going on, and talked and talked about that, and it helped a LOT to just listen to her, and hear what's going on right now, in 2010.

When the pain is just too much (sometimes it is), I try really hard to be gentle with myself for the rest of the day. I just let myself get on PC, or knit, we order pizza for dinner, etc. Sometimes those things aren't possible, but when they are, it helps a little.

And I try to remember that feelings always change. No matter how horrible I feel after session, I almost always feel a little better the next day, and a little better again the day after that. I know I just have to get through *this*, right now, and that it won't be this bad forever.

Therapy is HARD WORK. For me, no matter how slow I take it, it's going to hurt sometimes, A LOT. I hate it, but I know there is healing on the other side (even though it doesn't always feel like it).

to you