Social Therapy

Sometimes you just need someone, anyone, to talk to. But, what if you have nobody to in your life

willing to stop and listen. Maybe your family or friends are too busy, wouldn't understand, or, maybe,

you don't have any family or friends to talk to.

Then what?

That is where my theory in a phenomenon I've come to think of as "Social Therapy" comes into play.

Now, I don't have any college degree's in therapy or psychology, but I have the one thing that

all of us gain throughout our lives, experience.

The majority of my working life has been spent in customer service. And, it is through my experiences

in this field, that I came to notice "Social Therapy".

So, you ask, what is social therapy?

It's simple really. It is what happens when people experience what I described at the beginning of this post.

Social Therapy is when people begin to overflow with memories, thoughts, ideas, emotions, life stresses,

and they have no one to turn to in their personal lives to share it all with.

For the most part, this form of therapy seems to occur mostly in the fifty and over crowd.

Now we've all heard tales of people pouring their hearts out to bartenders, sharing secrets with their hair

dresser, etc. But, what if it's something that isn't nearly that limited?

I believe social therapy can, and often does, occur in any environment where there is any sort of public

interaction.

I myself have heard many, many tales of childhood adventures, lost loved ones, divorces, marriages,

tales of hero's, and of villains. I've also received tons of advice on how to live life to your fullest.

Politics, religion, you name it. I've had debates, discussions, chats about just about everything with

my customers. And, surprisingly, I've never had any of it go south. It's always cordial and informative.

The people who talk to me just want to speak, to be heard, to share. They often aren't concerned

about agreeing or disagreeing, just about the interaction itself.

And, I've discovered, in a weird sort of way, social therapy ends up often not only helping them, but

making me open my eyes, re-think things I believe in, and open my eyes to things I'd never stopped

to think about on my own.

In sum, I don't believe "Social Therapy" is something that has ever been limited to one or two professions,

nor do I believe it's something unique to the time in which we live. It's most often in people we term "elderly",

I believe, because that's often the age when people are kind of forgotten about. And, I believe, social

therapy is healthy and enlightening to both parties, and carries with it the very building blocks of how

social of an animal  human beings really are.


*Image courtesy of "Ambro" / FreeDigitalPhotos.net