◽️"The Road Less Traveled" tells us that life is full of hardships.
◽️"Maybe You Should Find Someone to Talk to" tells us that we cannot escape pain, we can only admit it.
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I am grateful that I came across this book when I was most depressed. It has 397,000 words and four days and nights of companionship. It is like a warm embrace, containing all my bad emotions; like a pair of strong hands, when I cover my face and cry. Patting me on the back, comforting: "It's okay, everything will pass."
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At this moment, I was sitting in front of the computer, trying my best to search for words in my brain to express my feelings after reading this book, but I felt I am at a loss for words. Here is a quote from a professor:
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"I have been reading books on psychotherapy for more than half a century, but I have never seen a book like this: so bold, so straightforward, so many good stories, and So profound and fascinating. "
- American psychologist, Stanford University lifelong honorary professor Irving. Yalom
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The protagonist Loli in the book is like an understanding old friend, and Xu Xu talks about her as a therapist. The journey of a teacher takes us into the stories of four visitors:
✨A Hollywood producer in his 40s who has a successful career and thinks everyone around him is stupid;
✨A producer in his 30s who just recently A female university teacher who was diagnosed with a terminal illness just after she got married and whose days are running out;
✨A 69-year-old old lady who has been through three marriages, feels lonely and desperate, and claims that she will commit suicide on her 70th birthday if her life does not get better;
✨a A girl in her 20s who has family trauma and alcoholism problems, and is frequently frustrated in love.
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In fact, there is a fifth person seeking help in the book, which is the therapist himself. She is a single working mother who almost collapsed after being broken up in love in her 40s. A friend said to her, "Maybe you should talk to someone," so she found herself a psychotherapist. When she switched to the client's position and sat on another psychotherapist's sofa to talk about her inner fragility and sadness, she could even feel the power of psychotherapy to heal and change.
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Compared with "Mr. Toad Goes to a Psychologist" that I have read before, the issues discussed in this book are more touching on the pain points in our real life. "Toad" tells us "It turns out that I have the ability to make myself better", and this book tells us "Although life has so many powerlessness and limitations, we still have the ability to make ourselves better".
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The author's frankness and bravery are the most precious aspects of this book. Finally, psychological counselors are no longer just "mirrors" with a professional atmosphere, but stand in front of us as flesh-and-blood people. It is those fragility and pain that make people sincerely face each other and closely connect with each other.
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No matter who you are or what your identity and background are, the troubles we face are actually the same - loving and being loved, regrets, choices, and death. These are all problems that we must learn to face as human beings. The personal pain and life difficulties we encounter in real life can all find resonance and hope in this book.
