Dixie Chicks’ Quote

Often in this society we are living in, people don’t like to hear the truth.

There are many reasons for this, a big one being the rule of politeness. Politeness is prized above honesty in (white supremacist) American culture. We are not taught how to have difficult, honest conversations.

This is just one of the reasons that families and society at large want to silence survivors. Silence and politeness hold many toxic systems in our society.

Entwined with that is this belief that we deserve to be comfortable. And these truths are anything but comfortable.

I point this out, because there are large systems of power and oppression that are working against those who would be honest about their lived experiences, honest about their suffering at the hands of others, honest about how the system is broken.

We aren’t going to be able to help heal the wounds of interpersonal trauma unless we are willing to listen to others, to their honest and real experiences and learn to get uncomfortable.

These are just some of the many reasons that therapy can be such an important piece of healing.

Therapists are accustomed to hearing uncomfortable truths.