Women’s Counseling
Let’s talk about the “Proverbs 31 Woman” …
Many Christian women are familiar with her. She’s productive, efficient, caring, loving, hardworking, successful, and supportive. She seems like the picture of perfection, and many women compare themselves to this biblical standard.
Making your productivity list for the day, it is loaded down with enough work for three people. Yet, you set the expectation to get it done and feel awful for not accomplishing the list.
The critical voice in the back of your head begins to whisper. It is barely audible, but you know it is there.
Carefully planning out the most efficient schedule, your frustrations rise when no one adheres to the schedule, or you just don’t even have the energy to follow through with your own plans.
The demeaning voice gets a little louder, and you do your best to ignore the self-disparaging comments that it is starting to spew.
Determined to be loving and caring, you make a promise to yourself, your children, and your spouse that you will stop yelling. You swear you will be more affectionate, only to find yourself retreating to your room while leaving someone in tears.
The hateful voice seems audible, and you attempt to drown it out with eating, shopping, or verbally scolding yourself.
Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, work part-time or full-time, your attempt at success seems to be thwarted at every turn. Your kid is strong-willed and leaves you drained. Work – life balance feels impossible. And you were passed up for the promotion for the third year in a row, not understanding why your efforts go overlooked!
The berating voice is screaming, leaving you feeling inadequate, out of control, and not good enough.
Doubts, frustrations, and fears start to dominate your mind, and the attempt to set expectations and to do better seems futile.
You begin to wonder…
“Why does it have to be this difficult? Does any other woman struggle like this? How did the Proverbs 31 woman ever make it? She didn’t even have electricity!!”
Feeling inadequate and not good enough, your soul and mind feel defeated and beaten down.
Striving to attain high standards and having goals is healthy, but making comparisons that create feelings of inadequacies is not.
Feelings of inadequacy and stress make for a heavy burden.
Let’s face it: There are growing demands on women to be successful homemakers, breadwinners, mothers, and ladder-climbing CEOs.
Waking up every day, you may or may not have Proverbs 31 ringing in the background of your head. Nevertheless, hustling around the house, you strive to meet the needs of your spouse and kids, determined you will get it right today. Breakfast made. Lunches prepared. Clothes ironed. Dog fed. Mentally going through the check list three times, you hope you didn’t forget something.
Rushing around before work, there is a futile attempt to clean the house. However, feelings of frustration rise as the mess continues to accumulate.
Hurrying off to work, the anxiety monster attacks again during morning rush-hour and chronic worry about your children, husband, bills, and life begin to dominate. Pushing these thoughts to the back of your brain, you attempt to focus on your work; but interruptions, work drama, and a gnarly boss make your work-life miserable.
Frantically scurrying home, your head spins with meal preparations and regret washes over you for not being all natural and organic, as you pull out the pre-made frozen dinners.
The normal pressure of the bedtime routines begins, and through exhaustion you attempt to keep your cool with your kids, some days more successful than others.
Then there is your husband, your poor, neglected husband. Pushing the guilt aside for not desiring to connect intimately, you roll over in bed hoping tomorrow will be different.
This stress can lead to depression and anxiety… and feelings of inadequacy, feelings of failure, or feelings of being out of control.
It’s time to start being who you were created to be!
You are more than your job…
You are more than being a mother…
You are more than a wife….
You are more than a homemaker or the breadwinner…
However, learning to be more doesn’t come naturally…
… especially if you didn’t have healthy women in your life to teach you.
Discovering your value and worth, you will learn in therapy that it does not come from what you do or your title but who you are as an individual.
You were your own, beautiful, unique individual self before you became a worker, spouse, or mother. Together, we will go on an exploration to discover who are and who you desire to be.
You will discover your God-given talents, along with realizing that you are fearfully and wonderfully made!
Through a brief exploration of your past, you will discover the lack of boundaries that brought you to your current status and will learn how to speak up in order to set healthier and stronger boundaries.
Your voice will be empowered, and discovering ways to be assertive will be challenging but rewarding.
Learning to set realistic goals will be taught, along with grace to have a bad day. Learning to love yourself through self-care and being gentle with yourself will also be explored.
See!! You are SO MUCH MORE!
And you are worth the investment to a better, happier, and more fulfilling life.
This is YOUR time…
It is time to explore the heart of who you were created to be and learn to speak up for your needs, set and maintain healthy boundaries, understand your wounds, communicate your feelings appropriately, and get the life you created on your vision board.
Our therapists will guide you with compassion, strength, and knowledge through a journey that will allow you to explore your heart and be the MORE you desire to be.
Today is the day. And don’t feel guilty about investing in YOU! Give us a call: (407) 285-6284