What Therapy Feels Like When You’re Afraid to Drop a Glass Ball
People probably think of you as the strong one: dependable, steady, maybe even unshakable. What they don’t see is how much effort it takes to hold it together, like you’re quietly juggling a hundred glass balls, hoping none of them slip.
And when you think about therapy, you wonder:
What if I fall apart if I try to let go of even one glass ball?
What if it makes everything worse?
What if therapy becomes one more glass ball to keep in the air?
Can’t I just read a book, listen to a podcast, or use AI instead?
What if the therapist sees that I’m weak or broken? Or doesn’t actually see how much I’m working to hold it together?
If these questions sound familiar, you’re not alone. Many high-achieving adults ask them when they first consider therapy. The truth? Therapy doesn’t make you weaker. It helps you discover new ways of being with yourself.
The Courage of Just Showing Up
The very act of walking into (or logging on to) your first session is an act of courage. For adults who have built their lives on competence, independence, and pushing through, therapy can feel almost… wrong. Like you’re breaking some unspoken rule by asking for support.
But that moment of courage begins to shift your whole relationship with yourself. You’re no longer the person who has to keep every glass ball perfectly balanced. You’re the person who’s willing to try something different. To let yourself be seen, maybe for the first time in a long time.
What Happens in a Session
A lot of people picture therapy as either spilling everything all at once or sitting in silence waiting for answers. In reality, it’s somewhere in between.
Sessions are designed to keep you in your window of tolerance: that zone where you can explore and reflect without being pushed into overwhelm. Yes, sometimes you’ll touch growth edges. It may feel tender or uncomfortable. But therapy should never feel like being thrown into the deep end without knowing how to swim.
Many clients are surprised to find that even after talking about painful memories or difficult emotions, they leave a session with more clarity or calm than they expected. Not because everything is “fixed” in an hour. But because, for once, they felt truly seen in places that often go unnoticed.
What Therapy Actually Feels Like
Every person’s experience is unique, but here are a few common threads I see in adults who are used to being the “strong one”:
A mix of calm and discomfort: You may feel both relief and unease. Change and growth often come with both.
Being seen in a new way: Not as weak or broken, but as fully human; with your efforts, struggles, and strengths finally acknowledged.
Relief in setting something down: Even temporarily, it feels different when one of those glass balls doesn’t have to be in your hands when someone is simply with you, fully present, no fixing, just alongside you.
A growing trust: Therapy is a relationship. Over time, trust builds and the work deepens.
Sometimes at the end of a session, a client will pause and say something like, “I didn’t realize how much calmer I would feel after just being with my emotions.” Or, “I didn’t realize how much that was impacting me until I said it out loud.”
These small shifts are the heart of therapy. They’re not dramatic breakthroughs, but moments of clarity that open space for something new.
Why Books, Podcasts, and AI Aren’t the Same
Books, podcasts, and even AI can be wonderful resources. They can spark insights, provide education, and make you feel less alone. But they can’t look you in the eye, notice your pauses, or gently ask the question you didn’t know you needed to hear.
Therapy is different because it’s relational. It’s the experience of being met in real time by someone who is attuned to you; noticing not just what you say, but how you say it. As a Highly Sensitive Person myself, I know how painful it can be when no one really sees what you’re going through. Therapy offers the opposite: a space where you are deeply seen and understood, not just analyzed or advised.
What Shifts Over Time
At first, therapy might feel strange. Vulnerable. Even wrong for someone used to holding it all together. But little by little, it shifts:
At first: You’re testing the waters, unsure if it’s safe. Or even if you want to do it.
Over time: You begin to notice a new sense of calm and clarity, simply from being with your emotions instead of juggling every glass ball unseen and on your own.
Eventually: Therapy can become a space where you see yourself differently, with more self-trust, more ease, and more connection.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you’re reading this, my guess is there’s a part of you that’s tired of juggling all those glass balls by yourself. There’s a part that wonders, What if I didn’t have to keep it all together? What if I could set some of these down and actually feel supported?
You’re not alone. And therapy might be the place where that shift begins. A space where you are seen, understood, and met just as you are.
As Pema Chödrön writes, “Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing… They come together and they fall apart again. It’s just like that.”
Therapy can be that space where you realize you don’t have to hold it all together all the time, where being with what’s here becomes part of the healing.
Ready to take the next step?
If this feels familiar, what if your next step was simply a conversation? I’m a licensed counselor in Idaho who works with highly sensitive, high-achieving adults navigating life transitions, depression, and the impact of always being the strong one. I’d be honored to walk with you. Schedule a consultation today.