Very good! I'm with you 100% there.

But think of it as an extension, only in your head, of the therapy session. As you noted the therapist doesn't have to do much, for all we know they say, "Ah, another long-assed post from McKell" and give it to file 13 with the other junk mail :-) They don't, you ought to talk about just that with your T, it will bring you closer. So, you think about therapy when you're not there and here you're actually doing something concrete to make that true! That's very creative and useful to you. Being useful is good. Nevermind the names your inner critic calls you, just combat them with "But it's useful!" and it won't have an argument for that, it just has name calling skills.

I like your #4. I found it to be true for me. Think about all you have learned here writing stuff out at PC? It is the exact same thing but in a more personal, relationship, situation when you're writing your T about things you have mentioned or think important. Wanting your T to know things and sharing them in writing is the beginning of opening up and having a relationship and it's still with T, like a session, so it's "safe" in the same way. So, you get to practice saying personal things you can't actually say in person yet. Eventually you will say some things in person, because this writing thing will go well and give you courage to take the chance.

Your #2 beat up self reason makes me curious. Where did you learn such an idea? My stepmother wasn't big on complaints. When I was sick, I had to have a fever to stay home, couldn't just not feel well or have a cold or something, had to "prove" I was sick by throwing up or having a fever. When I complained about something, was too cold or hot or hungry (mind you I was 5-7 years old) I was told, "Everyone else is just as tired as you are" (or cold, hot, hungry, etc.) usually said when we'd walked a million miles shopping and I was expected to keep up with her adult legs and quick stride. So, I don't complain and if I'm not paying attention, I give people who do complain a hard time about it. One is not allowed to have one's own outlook, the situation defines itself and everybody responds accordingly. So, who taught you to only bother them when you needed to borrow their phone to dial 911, that a simple, warm conversation wasn't a good enough reason to get in touch?