Reflective Journal Entries: Anxiety and lack of self-belief

From Lucy Waterhouse, with thanks

Another client has come back several times, D, who has struggled for many years with anxiety and lack of self-belief. His work life balance was completely out of whack and he was losing sleep because of it. I first addressed his sleep, then we have since moved onto work life balance, self-belief, self-esteem and confidence and ultimately the guided metaphor, imagery about him being a tree, having his roots spread far and wide and his role as a strong and constant feature in his kids’ lives. 

He had said at our last session that he was at the end of his rope, but afterwards, as I reported in my workbook, he was really excited about how he felt afterwards and said ‘bring it on!’ He had struggled with his ability to stand his ground with the students at the university where he worked as a professor, saying that if a student was to challenge his grading of a paper, even if he felt strongly that he was marking them fairly, he would ultimately capitulate and change the mark. Because of this he felt that to avoid conflict he was marking rather generously and felt that this would put his work in jeopardy. We have worked together three times now and the difference in him is astonishing, he has blossomed into a much more confident and forth coming man who isn’t afraid to assert himself in various situations. I have a final session coming up with him too. This again is great news and is a huge accolade to your skills and please remember to keep reading these successes back to yourself to remind yourself of the good work you do. Brilliant.