A World We Dare to Imagine
Sofia Duran
I struggled trying to define an idea. The main challenge was balancing creativity and reality. I felt stuck because if I let myself dream without limits, I would start thinking of unrealistic possibilities. For this first post, I decided to ignore all the inner critic voices that were killing my ideas and let my imagination fly.
I dare to imagine a world in which we all have access to therapy. I dare to imagine a world in which there are no taboos around going to therapy, but rather, it is as normal as going to the station to fill up your car with gas. I see therapy as a safe space of release. More than anything, a place where individuals can be and feel unapologetically, without being judged, but rather listened to. I imagine a world in which we don’t try to fix or numb ourselves.
It is human nature to feel emotions, all of them. There are no good or bad emotions. However, today we are ruled by social norms and cultural dynamics that influence our way around them. It is not natural to always be happy and perfectly okay. On the contrary, it is necessary to feel the “bad” emotions society has made us learn to reject, suppress, or hide like anger, exhaustion, sadness, envy, and jealousy. What if instead of fighting against them, we gave ourselves permission and space to process and experience them in a safe space, without judging, criticizing, or hating ourselves for doing so?
I do believe that a world where we all went to therapy, could be a world with more empathy, patience, and compassion. If we all let our feelings, thoughts, or whatever is going on in our minds and hearts, out once in a while, we would be better at managing and understanding our own emotions without projecting them to others. I do think that in a world like this one people would approach day-to-day situations more lightly and we would have more compassion with one another.
Being human means you will feel different things, all the time. Learning to understand, accept, and process feelings is essential to not let them control our actions.
Hi Sofia!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need a world which allows greater access to needs like therapy. You do an amazing job of explaining the importance of processing emotions and thoughts in this blog post. One step to take this idea further, and possibly make this idea a reality, is maybe through talking to psychiatrists/therapists who currently practice and asking them how a typical therapy session is conducted (what are some essential questions/processes). You can use this knowledge to train AI to give responses based on typical question/answers given by therapists/psychiatrists. One idea I have is somehow using AI to provide free and on-demand therapy to everyone who needs it (in all languages and time zones). I think AI could be a great way to do this because it removes the cost barrier of paying for therapy as well as language barriers. Overall, great post and would love to see where you take this idea!
-PR
Hi Sofia,
ReplyDeleteI believe that having access to therapy is an excellent first step toward making the world a better place. It is natural for everyone to experience emotions, and these feelings must sometimes be processed with the assistance of others. Trauma can take many forms, and everyone reacts differently to these problems, so having someone available to ensure your mental and physical well-being is a great way to advance the world. I especially agree with your point about letting your emotions out once in a while to help us manage and control our emotions when things happen. Overall great post I really enjoyed reading this!
Hi Sofia!
ReplyDeleteI'm inspired by your vision of a world where therapy is as commonplace as filling up a car with gas, free from taboos and accessible to all. Normalizing therapy to openly process every emotion, from anger to sadness, could transform how we understand and relate to each other. Your idea that such openness could foster greater empathy, patience, and compassion offers a hopeful perspective on improving societal mental health. Thank you for sharing!