I’ve had one noticeable “breakthrough.” According to my therapist, I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot since I first walked through her door... I’m not fully convinced, but I’ll acknowledge that one breakthrough.

I knew it was a “breakthrough” because I was talking for the first time about a series of very difficult memories about someone I grew up with that I never, ever thought I’d speak about in my life. I didn’t mean to, but she caught on to something I said and asked. It opened up a lot of stuff, and I feel like something was “resolved” because it’s now no longer totally a secret. I also was able to discuss aspects of it with the person involved. I didn’t go to therapy because of that topic—again, I planned to never address it in public—so it was an accidental eye-opening.