I’ve been a therapist for over 10 years now. I still remember when I got my first position as a trainee practitioner, I knew back then that I would be a manager one day, it was always my goal. I achieved that goal when I was 29 years old. Of course, once I achieved that goal, I found myself thinking, well what do I aim for now?
I never planned on becoming a private therapist. In fact, I was determined to always work with the NHS. But here is the thing, the more managerial you become, the less clients you see. My favourite part of the job, the very thing I trained for, I barely did anymore. But by this point I told myself that I couldn’t leave. I needed the security. The job security, the financial security, the life security.
I was determined to buy a house in 2020. I found myself working for a company where my values as a therapist were being challenged. I had to make a choice; stick it out in a job I hated so I can get a mortgage or leave and hope things work out.
At this point I was 32. Surely, I must buy a house. I don’t have a husband or a partner, no kids, the least I should do is get a house, right? Otherwise, what have I accomplished in life? What will people think of me?
I took a while considering it and the realisation I came to was this. What good is having a house if it is going to mean staying in a job where I am miserable. At this point we were in the middle of the pandemic, and if Covid taught me anything, its that life can change in a matter of minutes. Covid and the pandemic taught me this:
Life is too short to do things that don’t serve me
So I asked myself, when I am on my deathbed (dramatic thought process, but effective), do I want to look back and say ‘I hated my job, it made me miserable but at least I had a nice house to go home and cry in after every shift’. Or did I want to take a risk, leave the job, have no house but have a chance of living a life that I might actually enjoy.
I resigned at the end of 2020 with no job offer in place. Was it scary? Terrifying. As I mentioned, I am a single person and with no family support in place, it was upto me to make it work. I am fortunate that I fell into another position quite quickly, with a lovely team who I have enjoyed working with. However, managing people is not what makes me happy. I want to remind you what Covid and the pandemic taught me:
Life is too short to do things that don’t serve me
Now of course, the whole employment thing does serve me. It allows me to pay my bills. But again, if the covid situation taught me anything it is that I don’t want to live just to pay my bills. I want to enjoy the little time I have in this world. So I asked myself… what do I enjoy doing? The answer was clear as day – I love being a therapist. I love helping people be the best version of themselves possible. I wanted to be a full-time therapist again, on my own terms, not restricted to offering them 6 sessions when they need at least double that (#NHSproblems). So I asked myself, how do I achieve this? I had to become a private therapist.
To gain something, I must lose something.
I must lose the security of being employed, the financial security of knowing I will get enough money to pay my bills. I must trust myself; something I have been spending years working towards, and finally I am here.
So here it is. Aisha Khan Therapy. I went with my own name for the business because I have trust in myself to be able to help you. The question is, are you ready to help yourself? Do you believe you are worth the investment? If you are, lets talk.
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