I Spoke To a Therapist

I remember I used to make jokes about the fact that if anyone was a therapist in a country like this, they most likely would go broke. And this is because a lot of Nigerians don't really believe in therapy. People find it hard to believe that talking to someone who claims to be a professional about your problems could be of help to them; some of them might even look at a therapist like a scammer.

_{photo by Kelly Sikkema}

About a week ago, a friend of mine whom I hadn't spoken to in months had surprisingly called to say hi. And during our conversation, she had casually mentioned to me that she was a therapist. This was the first time in my life that I was finally getting to know someone in the profession, so I decided to make use of the friendship package and started to talk to her about some things happening in my life.

To be fair, if this was a friend that I got to see every day and didn't live far away, I probably wouldn't have been as comfortable talking to her as I was. But I was glad I did. The call lasted for about three hours, with me acting like the Nigerian that I am and trying to argue with some of her logic at every chance I got.

But by the time we got to the end of the section, I had to admit to her that she indeed had made me look at the entire situation a lot differently. It felt like I had watched her go into my brain and just change the way I thought about certain situations in my life.

To be honest, I didn't like that feeling because knowing someone could do that with just words made me feel vulnerable. Because what if she was a villain in this story? Does that mean she could easily change my mindset with just her words?

Of course, that is the African man with trust issues in me speaking, but if I'm being honest, I applied some of the things she advised me on, and I really can't say I regret it. So far her advice has been working out perfectly for me, and who knows, I just might start a paid session soon.