I have never felt pressure to "should" on my life from my therapist. I could tell my therapist that I've decided to marry a polka-dotted Burmese python and join the circus, and she would only ask if I was happy.

Not that she isn't judgmental and afraid to opinionate. I know she has her own ideas of what she considers a good life; she tells me enough about her life to paint a clear picture of what this would be. But she has never made me feel bad for not wanting it. We still have specific goals on the table for me to reach for. But it's not like I've been made to feel like my happiness rests on accomplishing them.

She has a daughter that lives an unconventional life. She talks about her lovingly, while sometimes expressing disapproval over some of her choices. What this tells me is that I don't have to meet her approval for her to like me and me to like her. So I don't care if she hates my shoes (an opinion she expressed once, apropos of nothing!) Her opinion is no more important than anyone else's.