The Courage to Persevere in Counseling

We live in a world where everything is fast.  Our food is fast.  Our cars are fast.  Even most church services have been reduced to 55 minutes or less.   Our minds have become accustomed to expecting life to be quick and convenient.   In other words, society says, “Don’t waste my time.”   Counseling is not one of those quick processes.  A young woman came into my office seeking help regarding her propensity to engage in destructive relationships.  “I need to figure this out now and quick.  I don’t really think it should take me more than two or three sessions to get this straightened out!”

Real change does not happen overnight.  When we have a mindset that our world should fix itself overnight, we experience great tension when change does not happen quite so fast.  When results do not occur quickly we will entertain self-soothing techniques such as abusing prescription drugs or alcohol.  Maybe we adopt attitudes of negativity or hostility toward others in order to protect ourselves from further hurt.   Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are indications of poor coping skills.  Our emotional system is sounding an alarm that an event or transition has occurred that produced an emotionally inconsistent way of coping.

The Power of Perseverance

Emotional change takes time.  It requires commitment and perseverance in order to learn who we are authentically and move with purpose.  Many of our issues have taken root over time.  Perseverance challenges you to stay in the fight to regain yourself!  It takes courage to face your fears and hold onto yourself in tense moments of discovery.   It is a state of being and a determined act. Here are some key concepts to remember about the power of perseverance:

• Perseverance is a process of moving from one revelation of self to the next revelation of self.
• It is not a long race; it is many short races, one after another (Walter Elliot).
• To persevere requires that you shed whatever it takes in order to get to the root of what holds you back from your destiny.
• It stretches your spirit to continue enduring in spite of difficulty and delay in achieving your goals.
• Persevering to the end empowers you to live in the present moment without embracing triggers of low self-worth, anxiety and depression.

Perseverance allows you to endure to the end of one process while transitioning to the next process. As you move from one stage to another, you learn to become your authentic self.  Each step you take to endure whatever you are going through will get you to a deeper state of resilience.  It takes time to work through the wounds of our past that leave the residue of distrust, guilt and shame.  It takes perseverance in the counseling process to reconcile with past failures, domestic violence, anger issues or low self-esteem.   It is a process of shedding those things that hold us back from our peace, joy and grace.  The power of perseverance expands our capacity to acknowledge our past while embracing the joy of living in the “here and now”.

Perseverance and Counseling: Partners with a Purpose

Counseling and perseverance are partners in the process of wholeness, healing and authenticity. Counseling provides a gracious place to process areas of our lives that no longer work. Most of the time we do not realize that something does not work until there is sufficient pain attached to an event. Pain can become a powerful change agent for growth and maturity. As you process painful areas of your life you can discover:

• The tenacity to love people who do not love us back.
• The determination to identify why anger has consumed your life.
• The courage to confront the fears that keep you from moving forward.
• The realization that abuse is not a form of love.
• The desire to move from intellectualizing problems to understanding emotional dysfunctions.
• The will to attack the defense mechanism of ambivalence and engage in meaningful self-reflection.

The Courage to Persevere in Counseling

If we can agree that counseling and perseverance are partners, then courage is their best friend.  Ask anyone who has decided to call a counselor.  It took courage.  Courage—the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty and intimidation for the sake of growth!  In counseling sessions individuals can find the courage to move forward.  This experience can produce pain, confusion, discovery, affirmation and validation.   We actually grow under stress or tension.  I am not encouraging individuals to engage in pain for the sake of experiencing pain.   Rather, counseling challenges how we process the good, the bad and the ugly—the pain that holds us back or inspires us to do extraordinary things in life.  Courage and perseverance allow our authentic self – the real you (strengths and weaknesses) – to uncover what is and is not working in your life.

Seeking Help Courageously Through Christian Counseling

Allow me to sum up the whole concept of perseverance and counseling: It takes courage to pursue counseling.  Perseverance keeps an individual in the fight to become a more solid and flexible self.   Your efforts will empower confidence in your authentic self and move to a place of healing.

A Christian counselor can help you confront the issues in your life that have you stalled and unable to move forward. He or she will use therapeutic techniques and Biblical insight to empower you on your journey to healing and wholeness. Often people who enter counseling are not ready to confront what hinders them or has a strangle hold on their life.  In reality, we cannot address what we do not confront.  It is time to face what is holding you back.  It’s time to widen your awareness of all that you can be now!  Get the support you need to move forward. To learn more about how Christian counseling can help you learn to persevere through life’s challenges.

Images courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net:
Man Push the World by renjith krishnan
Businessman Standing on a Green Grass in the Mountians by pat138241
Stairway to Forest by lkunl11