Less to-do, more ta-dah
We may have to-do lists as long as our arms, but what about the ta-dah! list? At Lifetime, we’re starting the year a little unconventionally with a heartening glance back at what we achieved in 2021.
I'd like to invite you to look back too, and to take a moment to appreciate what you have achieved. Let’s not forget that just surviving and carrying on against the backdrop of a pandemic that fosters anxiety and restricts essential social interaction is an achievement in itself. Maybe you planted something and it grew.
I recently listened to an interview with a well-known actor who had just landed his dream role. When the interviewer asked him what he would do to celebrate, he paused for a long moment, before replying that the thought of celebrating was hard because the work was yet to be done.
I wondered if the actor would celebrate when the film was completed and if he had celebrated the completion of his last big project. Somehow I doubted it. I recognised familiar perfectionist, workaholic tendencies and felt sad that this person found it difficult to enjoy the moment.
Then I started writing a list of what I wanted to achieve when I got back to work and almost missed the irony.
But not quite. So, here I am, practising some imperfection, welcoming the discomfort of not getting on with the next job and indulging in a little celebration on behalf of myself and my team.
The Lifetime ta-dah! list, 2021
1 therapy puppy
All dogs are therapy dogs, most of them working undercover. Here’s Mouse, taking her job literally while auditioning for the nativity this December.
3,500 counselling hours
Our centres in Falmouth and Truro have grown this year, enabling us to help more people in Cornwall. Many people find outdoor sessions and online appointments more comfortable and we can happily accommodate these too.
100 free & 300 low-cost sessions
Counselling is underfunded in our country, making it difficult to access high-quality care when you need it. Lifetime is an independent business that believes in social justice. We offer as much free and low-cost counselling as we can afford while committing to paying our counsellors a decent living wage. Around 10% of our sessions are currently free or low cost. Get in touch to find out more.
250 hours of free rooms
Anyone can book a room at our Lemon Street or Killigrew Street centres to run a session or just to work peacefully. We also make rooms available to charitable organisations with values similar to Lifetime’s at no charge. In 2021, we helped Georgia’s Voice, Man Down and Counselling for Social Change in this way. Please do take a look at these brilliant organisations.
2 new courses, 4 new interns
We now offer CPCAB accredited counsellor training from Level 2 - 6 in our calm, nurturing environment. Our internship programme means we can support new counsellors through supervision and offer more affordable high-quality counselling.
1 Masters degree
It’s always hardest to share personal achievements. We can proudly rave about friends and family for as long as anyone will listen, but when it comes to ourselves, shame raises its mocking head. As we know though, we can disempower shame by disobeying it. In September, I fulfilled a long-held goal to complete an MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice. I’ll be sharing some of my discoveries around evaluative language and the language of acceptance here later this year.
1st mYcard trees planted
One very special day in December our sister company, mYcard, planted whips at Flushing in Cornwall to extend an existing woodland. The first of the million trees mYcard will plant to create forests for future generations. This day proved to us that together we can make change happen.
Those who are only just finding out about mYcard, do sign up to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram for news of our app launch and how we are making a difference.
Thank you for reading. I hope this post inspires you to look back at what you achieved in 2021 and that you allow yourself to feel proud of the ta-dah moments in life. I’d love to hear them. Feel free to share on Lifetime’s private Facebook Gratitude Practice.
Malachy
Lifetime Therapy founder, counsellor and teacher