"I'm sorry to bother you with all this drama."
"I'm your therapist. Bothering me with drama is pretty much the job description."
Other professions whose job descriptions include this responsibility: friend, mom, dad, brother, sister.
Convenience is great, I suppose. But the best things, well, aren't. A slow cooked sauce, or an out-of-the-way inn in Upstate New York. Therapy's pretty inconvenient, too. You've got to take an hour or so out of your busy NYC day (not to mention the travel time), take a long lunch, or go in late. It's expensive. And it's hard work.
The polite response to someone apologizing for "bothering you" is to say that it's "no trouble." But maybe it is trouble. Maybe it is a bother. Maybe being bothered is exactly what I want. And exactly what you need.
Our hesitation here is based on a crazy notion of individualism. The assumption is that the ideal state for any individual is one of being "left alone," and anything that disrupts that is bad. But isn't leaving one another alone part of the problem? Don't we leave one another too much alone? Like it or not, we need each other. Caring friends (and family members, and therapists) sometimes seek us out in these ways ("Do you need anything?"). Which is great. How about we also work, though, on have the person who needs something (or wants something, even) take on the task of seeking out the help? Perhaps a tap on the shoulder, or a knock on the door. If that fails? Maybe a bellow: "Hey, Friend, I NEED SOME HELP!"
Bother me. Disrupt my solitude. Invite others to do the same with you.
