Couples and Family Therapy
Many of us hold the people we love at arm's length when we are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, sad, or angry.
If you are the loved one getting pushed away, it's important to remember that for most of us, keeping others at a distance is not a conscious decision. Often, people who push their loved ones away have been hurt before and are afraid of being hurt again. They may struggle with trusting others, especially if they have experienced interpersonal trauma.
Pushing others away can also be a matter of low self-confidence. If we struggle to believe that others truly love us and want to help, we may find it challenging to open up.
Especially if we have been in a relationship that made us feel like our emotional experience did not matter, we might believe that by being honest about our feelings, we are placing a heavy burden on our loved ones.
While getting pushed away feels hurtful, it can be a sign of deep love and commitment, indicating that your partner cares enough about your feelings to want to protect you from what they see as their pain to bear.
Learning to trust others often comes down to reframing our negative beliefs about what will happen if we open up. Whether we believe that we will be rejected by our loved one or cause them pain by telling them the truth, we need to unlearn these harmful thoughts before we can start to trust again.
Couples or family therapy can help people who have been burned in the past open up and learn to trust their loved ones again. Contact Life by Design Therapy to learn more about our holistic approach to counseling and how we can help you stop pushing away the people you love.
Comments
Post a Comment