Month: July 2025

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Burnout compassion fatigue emotional exhaustion gentle encouragement helper syndrome Invisible struggles mental health support overwork professional burnout recovery from burnout self-care therapist blog therapist wellbeing

Burnout in Disguise: When Invisible Struggles Wear a Smile

They don’t always look tired. They don’t always sound overwhelmed. They don’t always cry out for help.

Sometimes, burnout wears lipstick. Sometimes, it shows up early, takes notes, and smiles through the meeting. Sometimes, it volunteers to stay late.

Burnout is not always loud. Sometimes it is the quiet retreat of a once-engaged soul. It’s the therapist who says, “I’m fine” with a practised nod. The student who turns in the essay but hasn’t slept in two nights. The mother who makes three packed lunches and forgets her breakfast.

Burnout is what happens when your inner world crumbles and your outer world applauds you. It’s slow. Cumulative. Hidden in the cracks of overachievement.

And it often begins with invisible struggles.

The invisible struggle of being the strong one. The go-to. The capable. The helper.

But what happens when the helper needs help?

This blog is for those who hold others while feeling hollow. For those who cancel their therapy to accommodate another client. For the ones who show up with compassion fatigue and still give.

This is not weakness. This is weight.

Burnout doesn’t just ask for rest. It demands repair.

So pause. Let the silence speak. Let your needs matter too.

Because your work is not your worth. Because exhaustion is not a badge of honour. Because showing up for yourself is also a form of service.

Let’s start saying: I am allowed to rest. I am allowed to be seen. I am allowed to fall apart.

And rebuild.

Quietly. Gently. Powerfully.

Categories
Emotional Wellbeing Healthy Boundaries Personal Growth Relationships Self Development

Practising Discernment in Relationships: Seeing Clearly Without Losing Yourself

In today’s fast-paced world filled with opinions, social noise, and emotional triggers, relationships can feel overwhelming. We often swing between compassion and self-preservation, wondering where to draw the line between them.

This is where discernment becomes essential. Discernment is not about judging others or becoming distant; it’s about developing the clarity to make wise, grounded choices that protect your well-being while respecting others.

Ego vs Essence – Two Layers of the Self

Within each person exists two powerful layers:

  • The Ego: Built from fears, conditioning, and survival patterns.
  • The Essence: Our deeper nature is calm, whole, and inherently generous.

When we view life through the lens of the ego, flaws and insecurities become more pronounced. When we see through essence, we notice beauty, light, and untapped potential.

The challenge? Most people move between these states, influenced by both fear and love. Discernment means acknowledging both without idealising or condemning either.

The Power of Discernment – Balancing Light and Shadow

True discernment is like adjusting a camera lens to capture the whole picture. It allows you to see both the shadow and the light in someone, without collapsing them into “all good” or “all bad.”

Ask yourself:

  • Am I engaging with this person’s higher self, or trying to rescue their wounded self?
  • Do they demonstrate openness and respect, or resistance and defensiveness?

Discernment doesn’t require harshness or quick exits. It asks for honesty about what supports your growth and what drains it.

Loving Without Losing Yourself – The Art of Healthy Boundaries

Empathy is beautiful, but unchecked, it can lead to over-giving and emotional burnout. When you see the best in someone, you may feel tempted to pour love and energy into their healing, even when they aren’t ready to do the work themselves.

Here’s the truth: You cannot love someone into wholeness if they refuse to take responsibility for their growth.

Practising discernment means:

  • Setting clear, guilt-free boundaries.
  • Accepting that healing is a personal responsibility, not a rescue mission.
  • Recognising when your energy is better directed toward your well-being.

When to Step Away From Conflict

Some situations call for silence instead of struggle. Not every argument is worth your peace. Before engaging in a heated discussion, ask:

  • Is this person open to hearing another perspective?
  • Will this conversation lead to growth, or just drain both of us?

Walking away isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom. Protecting your energy allows you to show up where your love and effort truly matter.

Closing Thought:

  • Discernment isn’t about building walls—it’s about choosing where your heart feels safe, seen, and nourished. When you learn to see both light and shadow without judgment, you free yourself to love wisely—and live authentically.
Continue reading “Practising Discernment in Relationships: Seeing Clearly Without Losing Yourself”
Categories
Art Therapy Emotional Wellness Psychotherapy & Visual Arts Reflective Worksheets Relational Healing

The Power of Forgiveness – A Step Toward Healing

Reflective Tools for Growth

Forgiveness can feel like an overwhelming mountain, especially when the hurt runs deep. But forgiveness is not about forgetting or excusing the harm; it’s about reclaiming your peace.

This free worksheet is a gentle starting point, offering space to explore what forgiveness might mean for you. Whether you’re forgiving someone else or yourself, the process begins with reflection.

In this activity, you’ll be invited to consider the weight of what you’re carrying, acknowledge its impact, and ask yourself: “What would it feel like to set this down?”

There’s no need to rush. The aim is not to force a decision, but to begin a process—one that unfolds at your own pace, rooted in self-awareness and compassion.

This exercise is suitable for therapists, clients, and anyone on a healing journey.

✨ As you engage with this reflection, allow the questions to meet you where you are. Forgiveness is not a single act—it is a gradual becoming. And in its unfolding, there is space for relief, clarity, and quiet transformation.

📝 Download the free worksheet here: https://payhip.com/b/Ocn9V

Let this be a starting place. A quiet invitation toward freedom and emotional clarity.

Categories
Emotional Healing Self-Reflection & Growth Shadow Work Uncategorized

The Hidden Friend: Meeting the Shadow with Compassion

The hidden friend image created by Jenny McClymont

We often view the shadow as a flaw that needs to be fixed or eliminated. But what if it’s a friend who is awkward, loyal, and longing to be seen?

The parts of ourselves that we try to get rid of don’t vanish. They wait in memories we don’t want to remember, in reactions that seem too enormous, and in the space between who we are and who we think we should be. The shadow isn’t only our pain; it’s the context that has been lost, the story’s missing page.

For a lot of us, it’s not fear that keeps the darkness hidden; it’s tiredness. We often tire of appearing confident when we genuinely feel confused or weak. And sometimes, when you’re tired, a crack opens just enough to let something tangible come out.

Shadow work is more about getting together than mending things and paying attention. Naming. Sometimes all you have to do is say, “I feel this way too.”

You don’t have to explain everything you find in the dark. You only need to be willing to stop looking away. The darkness isn’t as scary when you are there and show compassion. It becomes a portal, not to perfection, but to being whole.

Categories
Creative Therapy & Reflection Emotional Healing Personal Growth & Shadow Work Shadow Work Uncategorized

Shadow Stories: What We Bury, What We Reclaim

The inner architecture of the unconscious image by Jenny McClymont

Inside each of us is a place where things we’ve forgotten live. Not lost, set aside. These are the experiences, emotions, and feelings that used to feel too weighty, too messy, and too misunderstood to share. We have learnt how to hide them well over time. They sit silently in the dark, influencing us from behind the scenes.

This shadow isn’t merely a place to hide fear or shame. It also contains parts of our brilliance, such as creativity, instinct, vulnerability, and desire. The sections we thought were too much or not enough. These are the sections adjusted to fit what was acceptable. “Sometimes, these hidden parts of ourselves were tucked away so early that we aren’t even aware they’re missing. But we can feel the holes, whether it’s through detachment, reluctance, or the deep aching of something we can’t identify.

As children, we learnt quickly what to display and what to hide. We slowly came up with a notion of who we were “supposed” to be by getting a gold star here and a harsh phrase there. But being alive has its costs. And if we only do what is appropriate, we merely live half lives.

Depression, withdrawal, and perfectionism may not be adversaries; instead, they may be there to help you. Old ways that used to keep us safe. When we approach them with inquiry instead of criticism, we start to see that they were trying to help. Now we can pick something different.

To get back our complete selves, we don’t need to shout from the rooftops; we need to open the door calmly. A page of writing, a painted smudge, or a whispered truth, these honest things bring the hidden ones back home. “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious,” remarked Jung.

Your shadow isn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s your story, long hidden, now asking to be told with compassion and honesty.

Categories
Creative Journaling Emotional Wellbeing Healing & Personal Growth Identity & Inner Work Identity work Inner Healing Personal Growth Reclaiming the Self Reconnecting with Self Self-Reflection The Stories We Carry Therapeutic Writing Therapeutic Writing & Creativity Uncategorized

Reconnecting with the Story Beneath the Surface

Image by Jenny McClymont

We are all shaped by stories — the ones we were told, the ones we absorbed in silence, and the ones we constructed to make sense of the world around us. These narratives can offer comfort and protection, mainly when they help us survive what once felt unbearable.

But sometimes, the stories that helped us cope begin to obscure the truth of who we are.

You may find yourself functioning well on the outside, yet quietly carrying beliefs like “I have to hold it all together,” or “If I shine too brightly, it won’t be safe.” These hidden scripts can echo through your relationships, your work, and your inner world — until they no longer feel like reflections, but restrictions.

Reconnecting with the story beneath the surface means asking: What am I believing about myself that no longer serves me? What part of me longs to be seen, heard, or reclaimed?

Through gentle reflection, journaling, movement, stillness, or expressive art, we can begin to reconnect with the self that existed before the coping — the intuitive, creative, and grounded self still quietly present beneath the noise.

This is not about erasing the past. It’s about listening with kindness to what lies beneath, softening the old patterns, and allowing something truer to emerge.

You are not your coping mechanisms.

You are not the story others wrote for you.

There is a deeper truth within you — and it’s time to let it speak.

Categories
Personal Growth Reclaiming Self-Reflection Surface Uncategorized

Reclaiming the Story Beneath the Surface

Image by Jenny McClymont

Reconnecting with the Story Beneath the Surface

Many of us carry stories shaped by our survival, the environments in which we were raised and what was expected of us, or what we came to believe about ourselves when life felt too heavy, too fast, or too lonely.

But these stories, especially the ones we don’t speak aloud, are not always accurate reflections of who we are at our core.

We encourage you to notice gently: Are you living from your original self, or a collection of habits, responses, and learned beliefs? Many of us have wired our inner world to keep ourselves safe, but in doing so, we’ve also disconnected from parts of ourselves that hold creativity, courage, and joy.

Sometimes the well-functioning outer self hides a part that feels exhausted, unheard, or unsure if it’s safe to show up fully. There may be a voice that says, “Don’t shine too brightly, it’s not safe,” or “Don’t rest, you’ll fall behind.” These voices, though quiet, can shape how we work, love, relate to others, and dream.

Healing is not about erasing these parts; it’s about noticing them, listening kindly, and offering a new story where safety and strength can co-exist.

Like rebuilding a home, we begin by examining what lies beneath the surface: the beliefs, emotional habits, and internal structures that no longer serve us. Through creative reflection and expressive work — whether writing, journaling, movement, or even stillness — we give voice to the silent parts. We begin to unlearn shame, soften the inner critic, and integrate what we once hid away.

The work is deep, but the reward is clarity. Wholeness. A more honest relationship with yourself.

So I leave you with the question:

Are you living your true story, or one that was handed to you?

And if not, what story longs to be told now?

Categories
Creativity and Healing Emotional Wellbeing Reflection Self Discovery Therapeutic Writing Uncategorized

Reclaiming the Self Beneath the Story

We all carry stories, constructed meanings we’ve absorbed over time to help us understand who we are. These stories often begin early, shaped by what we were told, what we experienced, and what we learnt to believe in order to feel accepted or safe.

But these are not the only stories.

Sometimes the stories we carry begin to feel heavy, defined by anxiety, perfectionism, overdoing, or by exhaustion, silence, and withdrawal. These aren’t just habits; they’re survival responses. We might feel pulled to do too much, to always be ‘on,’ or to find ourselves shutting down and stepping back from the world. Either way, the result is the same: we lose touch with the part of us that simply is, before the fear, before the coping.

That part of you hasn’t disappeared. It is still there. The original self, creative, steady, and intuitive, sits beneath the surface, waiting patiently for space to emerge. It’s not the self that performs or seeks approval, but the one who understands the essence of reality.

As you begin to reflect, create, move, or write, something shifts. You’re not just analysing yourself; you’re meeting yourself. The quiet rhythm of truth begins to return.

Some gentle invitations for reflection:

  • What parts of me have I hidden to be accepted?
  • Where did I learn that I needed to be more, or less, than I am?
  • What am I ready to release to reconnect with what’s true?

These reflections are not about fixing who you are. They are about remembering. These reflections aim to soften the grip of mistaken identity and re-enter the quietness of your own knowing.

When we live from that place, not from reaction but from presence, something profound begins to happen: we feel more whole, more honest, and more alive.

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Uncategorized

When Praise Becomes a Poison

Image by Jenny McClymont

Sometimes we admire people not because of who they are, but because of what we think they represent, success, power, access. But when admiration turns into silence, and truth is swallowed in the name of favour, something deeper begins to unravel.

There are times we find ourselves drawn to certain people, not because they lead with kindness or wisdom, but because others seem to orbit around them. Their presence carries weight, not necessarily earned through action, but maintained by status, stories, or old influence.

Around them, truth becomes softened. People say ‘yes’ when they mean ‘maybe,’ nod when they long to question. Not out of loyalty, but out of quiet hope, that by staying agreeable, something might be gained.

In these spaces, praise becomes a currency. And flattery, a performance. Some learn to keep close by using sharp tongues dressed in sweet tones, silencing others to stay in favour.

However, when praise is no longer grounded in truth, something begins to erode. The self-respect of those who give it. The integrity of those who receive it.

And over time, the web that was woven to hold others down begins to tangle its maker.

Even the most charming mask can’t hide what’s eventually revealed, that the snake was always there, just waiting in the tall grass.

Reflective Question

What’s the difference between genuine respect and silent self-protection, and how do we know when we’ve crossed that line?