Making time for counselling when reaching for Financial Independence

In January last year my husband and I suffered a loss, one so shocking it shook us to the core. Forgive me, but that is all I will write now – after 19 months it is still too painful to talk about it openly with anyone.

The good news is that after I have now acknowledged that I am no wonder woman, no super human, and that I need help from a professional.

I have arranged for counselling which I will begin in a couple of weeks after our upcoming holiday. I am nervous, I feel fragile and vulnerable, which is understandable yet odd since I have had counselling twice before in my life and know that deep down I will benefit from it.

What does counselling have to do with FI?

I am lucky enough to get 10 session for free, courtesy of the NHS. My GP referred me to a local charity where professionals volunteer their time. The only restriction will be their time availability.

For full disclosure, the previous time I also didn’t pay – my employer at the time (a large tech company) offered 6 fully paid session per issue with a professional counsellor. But the first time round I did pay myself…

During these months of counselling I will need time to go to the sessions as well as to process all this mentally. I will go through the trauma again and try to make sense of it, get it out of my system, at least as much as possible.

This is in parallel to having a family with a young daughter and a (more than) full time job. My time will become even more precious and I will likely have to cut back on the time I invest in my side hustles, like this blog and my other one. 

But on the long term – a pillar of the FI philosophy – it will be worth it.

Slow down, take time to process things, become a better person – even if it means your goals will be a little further away.