As the holidays approach, many of us find ourselves caught between gratitude and grief, joy and exhaustion, connection and loneliness. It’s easy to believe that we need to have it all together before we ask for help — but that’s not how healing works.

This week’s Notes from the Couch is your reminder that you don’t have to wait until life looks neat and polished to start. Therapy isn’t for the “put-together” version of you — it’s for the human one. It’s about creating space for the real you: the parts that feel messy, tired, hopeful, and everything in between.

If this season has you holding it all together with duct tape and a prayer, you don’t have to hold it alone. Come as you are. Messy. Real. Human.
That’s where the work — and the healing — begins.