((((Rainbow))))) I think that the therapy relationship is the only one that feels like it does. And I think that is because a T is trying to give us a close to perfect environment so we can have that place to be able to be honest without being judged the way everyone else in the world will judge us. Maybe I am just jaded at this point, but I don't think what I have with my T exists outside of T. It is one of the reasons why I am kinda thankful for when he makes mistakes inspite of his best effort. I am able to safely tell him "You did this and I heard that. That hurt my feelings." Then he will go through it very slowly with me, and I can see how I often didn't hear things the way he meant them.

All this would not happen in real life. My friends would just get more upset with me because of the misunderstanding. "How could you think I would say THAT??" Then my emotional walls go up and I end up isolating myself for the millionth time.

This is slowly and honestly- painfully teaching me HOW to communicate in the real world. I may not just come out and state to my friend that something they said hurt me, but I am now more able to ask a friend to clarify something they said. If I did hear them the way I thought I heard them, it empowers me to make a more sound choice over my next course of action.

Hope this makes some sense.