This has been a difficult and unexpected week for me. Two days after my son got out of the ICU, I was asked to leave LifeSTAR Fresno. I admit, I was shocked, sad, and angry. I have spent years with LifeSTAR Fresno, developing the program and sharing about this resource in our community and beyond. I have deep respect and care for my past clients there. I will miss them more than I can communicate. They are some of my biggest heroes. I am grateful that they have Life After Lust, so a piece of me will always be with them. Thankfully, some have chosen to continue seeing me individually and join my new groups, so I am grateful to remain a guide in their journeys. For those who remain in the LifeSTAR program, I wish them healing, health, and wholeness. I am forever grateful for our meaningful time together.
I am coping with this change in the ways I would recommend my clients cope with change and crisis – through connection with others, self-care, regrouping, and planning the next steps. I plan to have my online private practice ready and running next week, providing therapy for individuals, couples, and groups throughout California. In some ways, losing my job right now was horrible timing. Yet, I am hopeful that what is coming next will keep me on my purposeful path. As I’ve written in my book, “out of our pain comes our purpose.” I have seen that play out in the past and I trust that the future will work out as well.
Will you join me in making the most of unexpected circumstances? “It is time to rise up and live the lives we were meant to live” (Life After Lust, p 206).
Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving,
In hope,
Forest
PS: My son is doing much better…thank you for your well wishes and prayers for him!
Forest Benedict, LMFT, SATP, author of Life After Lust: Stories & Strategies for Sex & Pornography Addiction Recovery. Please follow Forest on the following platforms: Newsletter, Youtube, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, and SHARE this valuable content with others. Thank you!
