On the Obsession with Progress
I’ve noticed how often we measure ourselves against an invisible standard of “progress.” Patients worry they’re not changing fast enough, or that circling the same themes means they’re failing. But therapy isn’t a straight climb upward. Growth is messy, cyclical, and often quiet. What looks like stasis is sometimes deep integration. Repetition isn’t failure—it’s how we turn experience into meaning.
Existentialism, Simply: How to Find Meaning When Life Has No Script
Frankl, the creator of Logotherapy, explains that survival is based on meaning and that the absence of meaning is attributed to the vast array of mental health concerns which individuals can experience, such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Fundamental elements of human existence involve pain, guilt and death or as Frankl termed it, the Tragic Triad . Logotherapy promotes that individuals embody a Tragic Optimism, that is, despite what they are faced with, their stance or attitude towards the experience can dramatically change their interpretation of the experience. An individual who struggles to embody this optimism instead suffers and becomes stuck in what Frankl termed as an Existential Vacuum
Home is You
This book had a tremendous impact on my life, specifically through a breakup, and I find myself returning to it repeatedly even though I have already read it multiple times. The book's concept centers around the idea that the most important home you can ever build is the home you build within yourself. That depending on others to build homes for us can be risky as it puts our value and worthiness in their hands.
