My T and I had our "last" session this afternoon. We've decided to go on an as needed basis from here. He'd like me to come in once after school gets rolling just to touch base, but he agrees it is time to take it as it comes.

He looked on my chart to remember when I started with him. Jan. 4, 2005. It has been a long haul. We talked about how things have changed for me. The biggest thing is that my past doesn't run the show anymore: when things come up from time to time now, I'm able to deal with them directly and move on very quickly. No more getting stuck in my triggers. So nice.

He said he knows he played hard ball with me many times, but he is pretty certain I would not be where I am now if he hadn't pushed me when it had to be done. He's right. That's what I've always known and appreciated about him and I told him so again today.

I'll see him in a few weeks, and then again if needed along the way. As he said, it's probably good he's not leaving the country or retiring at this moment for me, but my ability to handle my life with reason and rationality and logic is so far improved over when I first walked into his office 7 1/2years ago that he feels pretty confident I'm going to be just fine.

He also had to say at least temporary good-byes to my 17-year-old son. My son starts marching tomorrow morning at 7:30AM and will have absolutely no life and no time for appointments until mid-November when marching season is over. But T said he feels good about where my son is right now too.

Feels good to finally be in this place. Very content right now.

[stopdog]

Congratulations. It sounds good for you.

[Indie'sOK]

(((((farmergirl))))) That sounds great! I like the idea of therapy "as needed" until I feel completely ready to leave for good, rather than a termination with no intention of coming back. It feels safer somehow.

Good for you and your son

[unaluna]

i'm looking at my future... not so scary anymore. congratulations.

[learning1]

Congratulations, and thanks for posting this!

Wow! thanks for sharing your good news

[KazzaX]

Congrats!!

[Chopin99]

Fabulous...I hope to be there myself in the next few months!

[granite1]

this is great christine

[critterlady]

That's so good to hear, Farmer. Congratulations!

Someday...

[pbutton]

Congrats - thank you for this post.

[rainbow8]

Congratulations! That's good news! Thanks for sharing it. I hope you're going to continue to post here though.

[Butterflies Are Free]

That is great to hear - all of your hard work paid off with a therapist who really worked so well with you! I wish you the best of luck and am happy for you as well as for your son!!!

[healed84]

That is so awesome Chris!! You are such an inspiration!

Wonderful news! Good on you I'm sure you worked so very hard for everything you've gained. I hope you'll stick around for a while. It's so encouraging to hear stories of people who have successfully done therapy. You have so much to share! But if you want to take wing and fly .... you earned it!

[rosesarered]

It is so awesome to read about a success!!
Congratulations on all your progress and starting school.
I'm so happy for you, truly.

[Nightlight]

That's really fantastic! It's so great to hear that you're there, and you're ready to be there too. To know that it's a possible destination. I hope I'll make it there myself, but I've got a way to go yet! Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations, Chris

I really appreciated you sharing this, because it helped me define where I'm at with my T....we did have a "final" session, but it ended up being less final than I expected. I've been struggling to define what we have now, and you totally named it: "as needed". That's perfect.

I'm so happy that all of your hard, hard work paid off !

Thanks everybody. Sorry it took me so long to reply; I've been caught up in watching the Olympics with my boys. I'm sure I'll stick around for awhile. I'm way too addicted to this place to leave it any time soon.

I'm working on a finding just the right final gift for him. I'm thinking about an engraved rock perhaps since I always have called him my rock. We'll see.

[roads]

The engraved rock has a good sound/feel to it. This seems so right & timely and all being arranged so appropriately for you and T. Congrats on the shape and contents of the whole dang process ... how absolutely grand!!
Roadie

Originally Posted by Roadie

This seems so right & timely and all being arranged so appropriately for you and T. Congrats on the shape and contents of the whole dang process ... how absolutely grand!!
Roadie

Thanks. I've been in therapy before, but never really THROUGH therapy because things previously got cut short by leaving college and therapist moving, etc. This time I was able to stick with it uninterrupted through to the "end". And that T and I have seen this moment coming for quite awhile now has just made it a very natural progression which has kept this from being a scary ending or sad ending but instead a kind of rite of passage into what lies ahead -- something to celebrate. It has happened the way it's supposed to happen I think. I know I'll still have sessions with T from time to time, but hopefully the intensive work is finally over.

There is still this part of me that fears a collapse: bipolar disorder can be pretty brutal. T asked me today how I would handle that. He liked my answer because it showed logical thinking that will get me through. We reviewed what I need to keep an eye out for so as to catch any issues early in the process rather than allowing them to snowball into a major episode. Hopefully I'll remember what I've learned from him if and when that time comes. The good thing is that he's still there as my support if I need him so I don't have to worry about having to handle things completely alone. I've got good back-up.

[Crescent Moon]

What an amazing testimonial to the possibilities for healing!

[Asiablue]

Well Done! So glad you've been able to see it thru to it's natural conclusion.

Woohoo, thats a triumph! Congratulations Farmergirl for graduating therapy through the good and the bad. It nice to hear you say you are content with it too, which makes it seem like it was absolutley the right time and you are comfortable with yourself )))

[delicatefade26]

Wow that's awesome!! Congrats!