mental health – Short-Term Therapy

When There’s Nothing Left but the Will to Move On!

Published on December 14, 2025 by AkiLeave a comment

A man wearing glasses and a white Champion t-shirt is sitting by a window with blinds. He has a greying beard and is looking directly at the camera.

3 AM hits different. No distractions. Just you, the ceiling, and the weight of everything that’s gone wrong—failed ventures, empty accounts, broken confidence.

This is where most people quit.

But this? This is where comebacks are born.

I know because I’ve been there. No safety net. No backup plan. Just pressure, shame, and one brutal question:

“Do I quit—or do I get up?”

If you’re staring at rock bottom, hear me: You’re not done. You just don’t have the answers yet.

And that’s okay.

When Belief Is All You’ve Got

Desperation changes you. No savings. No favors. No margin for error. Logic says, walk away. The world says, you’re not built for this.

But there’s another voice—quiet, stubborn, unkillable.

It doesn’t promise success. It doesn’t give you a plan. It just says: “Get up. Do something. Today.”

That’s not motivation. That’s survival.

Comebacks don’t start with confidence. They start with movement. One decision. One action. One refusal to stay down.

When everything’s stacked against you, don’t try to win the year. Win the next five minutes—before fear talks you out of it.

Failure Is the Forge

Resilience isn’t a gift. It’s built.

Every loss—repos, foreclosures, betrayals, bankruptcy—hits like a hammer. But if you let it, it reshapes you.

Here’s what failure taught me:

Bankruptcy kills ego. It forces you to rebuild on truth, not image.
Betrayal sharpens instincts. You learn who deserves access—and who doesn’t.
Hard times reveal the real fight. It’s never about money. It’s your mindset.

Every time you get up when quitting feels justified, you get stronger. This isn’t punishment—it’s training.

You’re not being buried. You’re being forged.

How Comebacks Are Made

There’s no secret. No shortcut. Just fundamentals.

1. Own the Damage

Shame keeps you stuck. Ownership sets you free.Your scars aren’t weaknesses—they’re proof you survived. Stop hiding them. They’re your power.

2. Win the First Move

Before the world hits you, anchor yourself. One thought:“I’m not broken. I’ll find a way.”Momentum starts small—but it compounds.

3. Take the Next Step

Forget the mountain. Focus on the next step.Get out of bed. Make the call. Send the email. Do the work.Big turnarounds are built from small, ugly actions done in the dark.

This Is Where It Turns

You don’t need clarity. You don’t need confidence. You don’t need permission.

You just need to hold the belief long enough to move.

I’ve been broke, broken, written off. More than once. And I’m telling you—it’s possible. Not because it’s easy. Because you can choose not to quit.

The pain you’re in isn’t the end. It’s the raw material for what’s next.

Stand up. Shake it off. Take the step.

That choice—the refusal to stay down—is how impossible comebacks are made.

Class in session. -KTR

Kevin T. Robertson, Public Speaker
Reposted from SpeakerFocus.com, originally posted on 12/14/25

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, New York, and Virginia. Call 407-494-5280 for a consultation. Follow Clear Mind Group on Twitter & Facebook.

Symptoms as Obstacles

Published on June 23, 2025 by AkiLeave a comment

Design composed of girl profile colorful fractal butterfly patterns and abstract lights on the subject of beauty creativity and imagination

I have ADHD. I’m sure I’ve always had it, but got diagnosed at 40 because I was tired of working so hard when focusing on things seemed easy for others. Since then, I’ve been on a daily medication, that helps quite a bit. I can focus on one thing for 90 minutes, which was nearly impossible before.

When you have symptoms of any disorder, or medical condition, that is your obstacle to overcome. Some things are overcome by medicine, others habits or routines, and some things will just be a struggle. But it is yours to overcome, and not an excuse for a lack of trying.

For example, let’s say you have asthma. Running a marathon may be a poor choice for you, and you should work with your body to do what makes sense. But if running a marathon was your life’s ambition, you might discuss it with your doctor, work up the stamina to run longer distances over time, and still carry your rescue inhaler. Your obstacle to work around is sustained lung capacity – which your body may or may not tolerate.

Since this is a mental health blog, let’s say instead that you have bipolar disorder which causes your mood to be both depressed then elevated with impulsivity. One way to balance that out is a mood stabilizer. You might also track your mood in a journal or on an app so you are prepared for when the manic phase is coming. Since you are impulsive when manic, you might give your credit cards to a trusted person during those days so you don’t overspend. Your obstacle is to work around the impulsivity and know when the manic phase will be arriving by tracking your mood.

Back to my ADHD example, I hate a task before a task. It takes an amount of executive function to begin a task that can be difficult to summon, so putting another in the way is frustrating and can make me want to quit. I know that my medication starts to wear off by 7pm, so I do well to get those high-executive-function tasks out of the way before then. A way this often comes up is in cleaning the cat box. I have to sweep the hall and laundry room of cat litter before I can get to the box. Sometimes I have to only sweep, and come back later to do the box. I can’t just not clean the box, so blaming ADHD is insufficient. I have to work around the obstacle of task-before-a-task frustration by separating it into two discrete tasks, and doing it before it is late in the evening.

Everyone has different obstacles, even within the same symptoms or diagnoses. That’s why cookie-cutter therapy does not work. We have to determine, for you, your obstacles, and how to help you work around them with grace.

Toxic Positivity

Published on October 28, 2024 by AkiLeave a comment

If someone could just feel better, they would. For everyone else, there’s therapy. Telling people to think positively is as ridiculous as telling someone to “Just wish your broken arm away.” Positivity becomes toxic when it fails to account for the reasoning or dismisses the person’s feelings. Sometimes, the vibe is just bad, and that’s okay, too. We don’t have to be happy all the time. Perhaps the meaning of life is to feel everything; either way, life has highs and lows. We need to learn to cope with the lows and get through them without self-destructing or exploding, but we can honor the part of us that is hurting, too – and we can honor that in others, allowing them the space to get through the hard times with our support, not our positivity.

The mind is negatively skewed to ensure our safety. If we think the stick is a snake, we will be wary, but if we always assume it is a stick, sometimes we will be bitten. We’re meant to think negatively, but that does not mean we are meant to be depressed or to remain in a low state. There is a reason or a time for being down, and a reason and a time for being up. Getting back up can be hard, but it is practical. In an up-state, a good vibes time, we can appreciate things in a way that we cannot in a depression. If this is too difficult to do alone, there is therapy, medication, hospitalization, outpatient programs, exercise, music, sunshine, and a balanced diet. Balance is difficult to find, but you can do it. I, for one, am here to help.

Fall Behind for Better Habits

Published on November 6, 2023 by AkiLeave a comment

Have you been wanting to have a more structured day, create a different routine, or add in something you can’t find time for, like regular exercise? Me too. I’m using Daylight Savings Time to kick that off, and you can, too.

Usually, I get up at 9 (I’m not a morning person), pee, wash my face, feed the cats, eat, and get ready for work. Now that we did “fall behind” last weekend, my body is used to getting up at what was 9am, and is now 8am. I took advantage of that last night by preparing for this morning; I set my alarm for 8. I spent about a half hour “wasting time” laying in bed, waking slowly, petting a cat, then got up and started my day. By 9, I was in exercise clothes and leaving my house. I went for a little walk, listened to a podcase, and was home by 930 (also have a phone alarm set so I’ll get home in time), to shower, eat, and get ready for work. Thankfully, I have no commute.

There was nothing difficult about that. I don’t believe resolutions have to start with the New Year, and you can make a change any time. Use what is convenient, like not shifting your sleep schedule, to start where you are at.

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Arbor Day

Published on May 15, 2023 by AkiLeave a comment

Holidays are conflicted for many people. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, in particular, are especially hard because of the complicated relationships we often have with our parents, our children, our grandparents, and the history of those days. It can be painful to see commercials celebrating seemingly perfect parent-child relationships, receive texts and calls, and feel obligated to see family.

Here’s the solution: Treat these days like Arbor Day. You know, Arbor Day, when you’re supposed to…worship trees like a druid? Plant trees? I don’t know. But we never even notice it passing on the calendar. Let this be that. Take those texts in like “Happy Arbor Day!” and those invitations like “Let’s celebrate Arbor Day together” oh, no thanks. Switch the words in your head and eliminate some of the heaviness.

After a Suicide Attempt – for the Attempter

Published on October 10, 2022 by Aki1 Comment

treenage girl suffering with depression in a conversation with therapist or psychologist

You’ve been in a low point and it took you as far as you could go, so far that you felt ending things was the only way to get out of your misery. And it didn’t work. Maybe you were intercepted or your method wasn’t effective or executed in the right way. You’re going to have a lot of feelings interspersed with feeling nothing at all. This is normal, if anything can feel normal right now.

You might feel anger at your choices, your method, those who intervened, or God. You might feel worthless for failure at the attempt that was unsuccessful. You might feel just as (or more) sad, lonely, or depressed than you did before the attempt. You might feel guilty over the fallout to your loved ones, or inability to provide. You might feel numb, hollow, or empty – this one is especially tough as it is a protective factor, but means you cannot absorb any good feelings being sent your way during these times. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay. If you’re feeling something, that’s positive. Here’s the thing to note: feelings change. If you can feel this, you can feel something positive – maybe not today, but there can be hope. You’ve felt good feelings before, even if not recently, and you can feel good feelings again.

Please don’t try to do this in isolation. Maybe you can, but you don’t have to, and it’s too hard to try. When everything else is already so hard, let this part be easier. There’s hospitals for inpatient help if you need to be monitored for additional attempts and need round-the-clock care (search “psychiatric receiving hospital near me” and read the reviews to choose one), outpatient services like therapy (there’s different levels of therapy like weekly or multiple times per week, in person and online) and psychiatry. Psychiatrists prescribe medications, and it’d probably be good to look into this as your chemicals are likely lacking in one direction or another and need servicing like your car needs proper gas. I’d advise you to tell one person close to you about your attempt. Maybe someone already knows, or multiple people do. It’s okay to share as much as you’re comfortable with with these people and half your burden. Therapy is a great outlet for this, in addition, but do lean on your loved ones as they want to help you through this.

How do you get back to living? Do you just pretend everything’s fine? That’s too much effort. Be where you are. Take a break as much as you can. Step back in gently. Do a bit of work. Do a bit of hygiene. Do a bit of housework. The stuff that makes life feel normal, do some of it. If the house is still a mess, that’s okay, too. But spending 5 or 15 minutes doing the dishes or making a dentist appointment is what life is, that little stuff. And by gently, I mean even if you spend 15 minutes washing the same dish while zoned out, that’s okay. It’s still one dish down. Sometimes you have to plod along, and this is that transition point. Get by and get through.

Overwhelmed? Obsessing? A technique for you.

Published on March 24, 2022March 11, 2022 by AkiLeave a comment

several plants in pots along a sunny windowsill

Zooming in/out

When I am overwhelmed, like thinking about war and climate change and politics, global issues that I have little to no control over, I am zoomed too far out. I’m looking at life through a telescope. I’m needing to change the focus to what is now, here in front of me, that I can change or have control over.

When I’m obsessing, like thinking about day-to-day stressors and my to-do list and all the little pieces that seem to need my attention, I am zoomed too far in. I’m looking at life through a microscope. I’m needing to change the focus to what is now, that I can accomplish and check off, that I can move in the priority if necessary.

I challenge you to change your focus. Notice if you are zoomed too far in or out, and move to a more comfortable middle ground. This is a skill and takes practice, so assume that the lens is going to get out of focus sometimes, and that’s okay, but it is also adjustable and you have the ability to adjust it to be comfortable for you.

Priming – Preparing the Mind to Notice

Published on February 24, 2021January 4, 2021 by AkiLeave a comment

From http://www.customer-insight.co.uk/article/923

The kind of therapy I utilize is positive, future-thinking, now-centered, and about lighting up and moving into that which is beneficial. In doing all of that, we’re priming the exact right things.
Priming is preparing a person to think of something. This is why when you hear an unusual word, phrase, or name, you notice it more often in a short period of time. It’s on the top of your head, you’re primed to notice it.

Author Malcolm Gladwell illustrates priming through psychological experiments. When he talks about race at the end, that’s called “stereotype threat”
Video

Stereotype threat scholarly article (you can skim it or skip it) about having people declare their race and then take a test; black Americans did worse based on stereotype of lower intellect. Similar experiments were done with Asian women and math and driving and with athletics, where facilitator was changed to be black, white, buff or fat – participants did the same on number of push ups in test, but did worse on vertical jump if they were white and the facilitator was black because the stereotype is that black people are better at jumping and “white men can’t jump.”
Article

Video on stereotype threat experiments and how to reduce it.
Video

In practice, priming is why VA PTSD groups keep veterans sick. You go talk about atrocities and how crappy you felt and feel, then come back next week to do it again. Groups should be focused on solutions, be positive, and be time-limited. This is also why talk therapy fails, those therapists are priming their clients to continue thinking about what it is that sucks in their life. Instead, think about how you’re fixing that stuff – and be primed to keep thinking about that, making things better and better. It’s a small shift, but it’s a huge shift!

Advertisers utilize priming so you think of them every time you hear a slogan, see a color, notice an animal, etc. The biggest brands have the simplest logos – Nike’s swoosh, Coke’s ribbon, Pepsi’s circle, General Mills’ check mark; this is so when you see something similar in the real world, you think of them, free advertising, memory anchoring, and increased sales. I show this video in one of my classes – pause it and count the kangaroos. Every time you see a kangaroo, Dish wants you to think of them.
Video

Street hypnotist (and who I want to be when I grow up) Derren Brown primes actor Simon Pegg – look at the room, watch it twice, for the layperson, it may be difficult to weed out what is hypnosis and what is priming.
Video 1
And how it’s done
Video 2
I LOVED showing these videos when I taught college courses, and the students always had so many questions thereafter. I have a bunch of Derren Brown’s shows on DVD and I watch them over and over and over – I even have a regionless DVD player just to watch them on, as they’re often hard to get outside of the UK. He’s so masterful.

This is the stuff that lights me right up. Thanks for letting me share and nerd out with you.

Returning to Therapy

Published on February 17, 2021January 4, 2021 by AkiLeave a comment

I was fortunate enough to receive a massage this week. The masseuse started on my back, which was tight. Once it loosened, I noticed pain in my neck which was later rubbed out.

When clients come to therapy, they often know what needs to be done, where they want to start, where it is tight, so to speak. Once we massage that area and the original item is loosened, sometimes there is a noticing of a pain elsewhere. Removing one problem does not create any other, but allows us to see where it was tight, but not as necessary to fix as something else.

Often, clients will come back to therapy in some months or a year because that new tight spot becomes uncomfortable. Or, there has been some new issue that causes inflammation to be massaged out.

If there is pain, there is a cause. Physical pain is a signal from the body that something needs to be changed. Emotional pain is a signal from the mind that something needs to be changed.

Self Care: Monitor Your Intake

Published on February 3, 2021January 4, 2021 by AkiLeave a comment

I was recently discussing books with some people I know and they suggested certain books to me that are not in my usual genre. As an avid reader, I generally read 4 books at a time: 1 audio book in the car (fiction or biographical), 1 for-fun fiction book, and 2 non-fiction books, generally related to psychology or another of my work-aspirations. Whatever I’m in the mood for, I’m partway through one of them. But my for-fun book is always fiction, always set in some fantasy place or completely made up setting of a real place. I like wizards and dragons and magic and being transported to somewhere completely new and outside of my reality.

So when these other avid readers suggested murder-mystery books and books about interesting serial killers and the like, I wasn’t interested. In my practice, I hear a lot of stories and many are quite unpleasant, which is why they need a professional to clear that stuff away. I’m very skilled at leaving other people’s problems in the office and not letting that bleed into my life. I don’t stay up at night thinking about the terrible things that happened to my clients – not ever. This isn’t callous, this is how you keep from burning out and stay with the client in that moment, in control of the situation and not get pulled into the story. You don’t want me crying with you in session, right? Me either! How unprofessional.

Similarly, my husband and I were talking about horror movies recently and I discerned that I no longer like the kind with “realistic” happenings in them – serial killers, madmen, psychos – but I still like the kind with supernatural appeal – haunted places, things come to life, mythological creatures. Those just aren’t as scary to me as they could be real or not. There are really killers in the world. It doesn’t interest me to spend my free time on that stuff.

My free time is for fun and I want it to be completely fun. I also limit what sorts of depressing media I take in. I don’t watch the news, almost ever, and if I do, it’s BBC World News America because they don’t throw in a bunch of sensationalism and make you terrified. Who needs that? I sometimes watch The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, but it’s comedy and not all truth.

Think also about who you allow in your life and what they bring to the relationship. Take care of you in your way. Limit what you take in. Monitor your intake and do what is right for you.

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Weston, Florida. Call 954-612-9553 for a consultation. Follow Autumn on Twitter & Facebook.