A therapist who had a blessed upbringin'
Assalamu alaykum, I just need to vent a bit and didn’t know where else to put this. I work as a CBT therapist, and whenever I tell people that, they often jump to the conclusion that I must’ve had a rough life to choose this path. They assume I went through childhood trauma or family problems - which is actually not true at all. Alhamdulillah, I’ve had a really blessed life. I had a lovely childhood, my parents are wonderful, my teenage years were good, and I genuinely love my life. Nothing traumatic ever happened to me. I’ve never suffered major mental health issues, and I always remind fellow Muslims to turn to prayer and trust Allah when they’re struggling. Sometimes I feel awkward when people ask what I do, because I worry they’ll immediately think something negative about my background. The truth is I became a therapist because I needed work after university and I’ve always been naturally empathetic. When I was younger I didn’t have a clear plan, so I picked psychology since it felt doable at the time. I’ve even thought about leaving the job because of burnout and feeling embarrassed by the assumptions people make. I mention all this because I notice a lot of people - especially in some South Asian circles - complain about parents and assume everyone has trauma. That’s not the case for everyone. On social media there’s a lot of airing grievances, and I don’t like how people automatically assume I went through the same things or speak poorly of my family. What really upsets me is the thought of people thinking badly of my parents, when they’re amazing and gave me a beautiful life, alhamdulillah.