I'm OOT (Out of Therapy) for the first time in many years..during the holidays.

As you may have surmised, I don't exactly have a Hallmark Card Life. That meant the gap between the idealized life and my real one seems larger during this time of the calendar year.

So, I am really summoning up my former T's (I mean the good ones) advice about coping in difficult times. It's helping to a certain extent -- I can hear the echo of good solid therapeutic advice, but it's the space and time of therapy that I miss. The chance to simply process what's going on (or not going on) in my life.

The longer I'm OOT, the more I understand that therapy provides a space and time to process and hear my own thoughts and parse what's going on, confidentially. Sometimes I think that was the key element for me, rather than any particular therapist. I mean, there were good ones and bad ones, but sometimes I understand the role of a bartender in old movies. Just to listen.

No real question here.