Juliann Reflects on 100 Blog Posts
I cannot believe that I am sitting here, writing out my 100th blog post! What a journey ! I can’t believe that there were 100 ideas, thoughts, and opinions that I shared with all of you! Thanks so much for sticking around! I also owe a great thanks to our OG Reader’s List for sticking through it all and encouraging me with their kind words, providing input, keeping me accountable, and inspiring me with new ideas!
Empathic’s blog started off as a blog on Blogpost. At that time, Empathic Counselling Centre had no website and yet I wanted to make myself and my services known to the community. What better way to share my expertise than to start a blog? I was no stranger to the blogging world at the time. I had a budding feminist blog going (low key still really proud of the beliefs I held at that age), but I knew this one had to be different. I wanted this blog to showcase my knowledge in the field, provide life hacks to common problems, spill a little vulnerability, and to overall get people acquainted with me ! At some points, I selfishly used the blog as a diary or to give insight into things that I was experiencing at the time -the good and the bad. I wanted to show that therapists are human too and we feel everything you feel!
As I reflect on previous blogs, here are a few highlights, categorized, of course.
Most Fun Blog to Write:
Already starting off with a difficult category. I would have to say it’s a toss up between, A Therapist Responds to Your Tweets and What Happens Between Sessions. I loved writing the Tweet response blog because it really normalized going to therapy. The vibe from the tweets was that it was so natural to speak to a therapist and that it’s not always so serious. There are several light hearted moments and sometimes downright funny moments that occur in the therapy room that most don’t know about. To then give it a therapist perspective of the same phenomenon was so much fun! I also liked writing What Happens Between Sessions because I felt that it was important for clients to know that we hold so much space for you even when you’re not here. Just because session is over, doesn’t mean our time with you is up. There’s so much behind the scenes! It’s also a great article for those who are interested in the field of psychotherapy and curious about what to expect between sessions.
Blogposts I Regret Writing:
I don’t regret this because of what I wrote, but because I decided to take on this idea without much planning and I definitely underestimated the work that needed to go into this. I’m talking about my Coping with the Holidays Series. Twelve posts about how to cope with holiday stress, three posts a week for four weeks. Not sure if anyone noticed, but I didn’t even make it to Day 12! I stopped at Day 11 because I ran out of ideas and because I was too busy not coping with the holidays LOL. You know that phrase, those who don’t do, preach? Yeah, that was me Christmas season of 2017. I mean, there were some highlights in that series- I made sugar cookies, I practiced mindful shopping, and I refused to participate in any Secret Santas that year. Say what you will, I hate Secret Santa. Above all that, I’m just glad that I don’t ever have to photoshop an elephant in Christmas attire ever again.
Favourite Therapy Related Blog Post:
Keeping in line with series, I enjoyed writing the Therapy Tips Mini-Series. I wrote this series during the infant stages of private practice because I really wanted people to get a feel for what to expect in therapy, how to tell if their therapist is a good fit, and when to leave your therapist. I put myself in the shoes of my client and wondered the types of questions that I would have and how I would like them to be addressed, hence, the birth of the series. My hope was that this series would walk you through the beginning, middle and end of what it’s like to find a therapist.
Most Raw/Emotional Blog Post:
What immediately comes to mind is A Letter from an Angry Therapist. I remember my emotions being so raw that day when I sat in my office and just started writing. That month was a terrible month for Toronto with the up and down emotions of lockdown. I was feeling so helpless and defeated that even I was running out of comforting words for my clients. I was right there with them with everything that they were feeling. It was so draining. My intention was to just pour it all out in the hope that it would have people rethink their decisions and work together as a community to get through this pandemic. I wanted people to understand how their decisions can impact the lives of people they don’t know, COVID complications aside. Low key, it was also very cathartic for me to let it all spill.
Favourite Guest Post:
When Rufus first approached me regarding writing a guest post on my blog about addiction, I was thrilled! I am not well versed in addiction issues but Rufus did a great job in discussing addiction and how to turn your life around during recovery. In How to Turn Addiction Recovery into a Fresh New Start for your Life, Rufus provides practical and easy tips to do just that.
Well, there you have it. 100 blog posts at Empathic Counselling Centre. It’s hard to imagine that this all started with me sitting at a Tim Hortons and just spending a few minutes of my day jotting down ideas and thinking about what inspires me to write. I’m grateful to have come this far and I’m excited to see what the next 100 (!!!) look like. Thank you so so so much for being on this journey with me.