EAP: Embracing a Herd Mentality
The mental health field is not unlike a lot of professions today — there is always more to know, so an expert's efforts are best spent learning and growing in specializations about which they're passionate. For me, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is a combination of two of MY great loves — horses and helping people.
The key to loving your life
I wasn’t always a horse girl. In fact, I didn’t get on my first horse until I was well into my 20’s.
What began as a love for My Little Pony figures (Applejack was my fav), morphed to obsessively reading books like “Black Beauty” and writing about my own fictional horse, Highlander. I checked out books on horse care and horse breeds from the library ... but I never got to ride.
It was a classic case of lack of opportunity UNTIL I wanted it bad enough and felt empowered enough to MAKE the opportunity.
I did some research and found a barn willing to take on an adult for lessons. Newly out of college, my entry level job income wasn’t much, but I made it stretch SO THAT I COULD STRETCH into places and spaces that intrigued me.
Making the choice to dabble in something that had always intrigued me was FAR MORE EMPOWERING and ENLIVENING than I could have anticipated.
I didn’t know it then, but I was tapping into a way of approaching life that would become defining personally AND professionally:
You have to ✅ KNOW WHO YOU ARE and you have to ✅ PURSUE IT if you want to truly (and consistently) live a life you love.
Period.
Maybe you’re thinking it can’t be that simple. In fact, you’re thinking ...
But, Tracy,
❌ I don’t know who I am or what I like OR why!
❌ I wouldn’t know where to start to pursue any of it!
I understand. You’re not alone. BUT, I’ve seen client after client figure it out, way faster than they expected.
And, guess what?
They’re happy. SO flippin’ happy.
Might you want the same? Let’s chat and see what could be done about it. I’d love to help!
Why New Year Resolutions Don't Work
Here's WHY your new year resolutions didn’t stick:
𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 “𝗪𝐇𝐘.”
Or, maybe you thought you did, BUT it actually wasn’t compelling enough.
Or, maybe it WAS compelling, but your brain wasn’t convinced.
When your brain isn’t convinced, doing a hard thing consistently (like changing habits, etc.) is dang near IMPOSSIBLE.
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Convincing your brain = rewiring your brain. 🧠
Our brains are super efficient. They like to learn a thing and move it to autopilot. Think about it: When’s the last time you had to think about breathing … or placing one foot in front of the other to walk?
You don't. That's because our brain develops strong neural pathways as we habitually do, feel, experience, etc. SO THAT we can do, feel, and be AUTOMATICALLY — without thinking.
It’s all very cool, but also not always beneficial. Especially when our brains are automatically sending us unhelpful thoughts or down emotional rabbit holes or allowing us to believe we don’t deserve better than what we’re used to experiencing.
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So, HOW do we rewire our brains?
1️⃣ Experience different.
2️⃣ Imagine different.
Sensory and imagery experiences are kind of like nitro 🏎 for the neurons that relay (and connect) information within our brain.
See that picture behind me in the picture above? That’s MY WHY. The people God’s given me to hold close and love on. I’m in that picture, too.
That didn’t used to be my WHY. As a result, there have been times in my past where I failed at goal setting. Ideas I had that I let totally fall flat. Promises I made that I just didn’t keep. Like many of you, I’ve done the pendulum swing of extreme doing to doing basically nothing.
And why? Because each and every time, my WHY was influenced by or inhibited by old ways of thinking and doing.
To get to a place of true change, I had to challenge some inner demons 👿 … self-talk that kept me perfectionistic but ineffective and unhappy. A lack of self-care that pointed to a pattern of self-reliance. A lack of self-esteem that kept me self-absorbed. (Just to name a few …)
I challenged it all by choosing to experience different and imagine different. Over and over again. 🔁
Practically, that looked like a season of therapy, opening myself up to vulnerability in relationships, choosing out of toxic systems, allowing myself to ask for and accept help, putting together vision boards, creating and maintaining a list of wins, wrestling with existential questions, allowing myself to dream, saying “thank you” when complimented (instead of working to minimize or dismiss them), putting what's true and important in my life in front of me again and again and again - pictures, affirmations, etc. ... and so much more.
My brain got rewired. It’s STILL being rewired. Every day I choose to experience different and imagine different than I’ve always known.
As a result, I feel different. I do different. I think differently.
And, as a result of that? I LOVE MY LIFE. 🥰
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💭 PONDER: Can you say the same? If not, fill out the form to book a Discovery Consult. Let’s get started rewiring your brain!