A Counselor Reads About Therapy and Catches Feelings. Obviously.

📚 Book of the Month ***** Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).

Holy emotional rollercoaster. 🎢 I laughed, I cried, I took notes mid-listen for future sessions. 📝 This book has everything, and I can’t think of a better way to introduce you to both counseling and my Book of the Month blog. 💛

What I loved most? It pulls back the curtain, kind of like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and shows the therapist as a whole human. 🧍‍♀️ Someone who also wrestles with heartbreak 💔, identity 🪞, and awkward emotions 😬… from both sides of the couch.

As a counselor, it felt validating. ✅
As a person, it felt honest. 🧠

This story doesn’t just highlight one client’s journey , it lets us walk through multiple sessions all the way to termination 🛋️, which gives us a rare look at how layered the therapy process actually is.
It’s not just “how does that make you feel?” and a nod. 🙄
It’s messy, complicated, funny, and full of quiet, and sometimes loud breakthroughs. 🌱

Since this is the first Book of the Month, I wanted something that reflects who I am, both as a counselor and as the sarcastic, slightly too emotional human 🙋‍♀️ I unapologetically am.

I firmly believe we are who we read. 📖
And listen, my ADHD brain 🧃 doesn’t let me finish anything that doesn’t spark something in me.
So if I made it all the way through this book (and cried in public doing it 😭🚗), that says a lot.

What resonated with me most was the complexity of pain, and how differently each person expressed it. 💔
Every character, every client, every human carried their own version of trauma 🧳, and each one showed (or hid) that pain in their own way. 🧠

And isn’t that real life?
We never really know what someone’s carrying. 🎭
We only know what they choose to show us.
Sometimes there’s a whole universe of hurt 🌌 sitting just under the surface, and most of us are just trying to get by. ☕🫠

What really drew me in, though, was Lori Gottlieb’s own vulnerability. 😮‍💨
The way she wrote about her mental health journey?
It’s raw, honest, and awe inspiring. 🙌

And listen, I’m just gonna say it, I think we all deserve photo evidence of this Zeus-like sperm donor she mentions. 🧬⚡ Just kidding. (Sort of. 👀)

But that’s what kept me turning pages 📖: the realness.
I wasn’t just rooting for her clients; I was rooting for her. 💛
I had no doubt her patients were going to grow under her care 🌱, but I found myself hoping she was going to be okay, too.

Honestly? I think we all need a Lori in our life. 🫶
And a Wendell. Can’t forget Wendell. 🛋️🧔

When I finish a great book, I always reflect.
I mean, I’m not the same person who started reading it. (That was like 20 audiobook hours ago.) ⏳
So now I ask myself:
🧠 What’s one thing I learned that I can bring into my life?
🪴 How can I grow from what I just experienced?

So to round out this month’s theme of New Beginnings:
This book is all about fresh starts, seeing things through a new lens, breaking old patterns, and choosing to grow, even when it’s hard.
Kind of like that weird goop you use to sprout a Chia Pet. 🌱
So… what kind of sprouts (or, if you want to be boring, growth) are you ready for this month?

No pressure. Just something to think about. 🤔
Maybe journal it. Maybe whisper it to yourself in the car.
Maybe keep avoiding it for now. (Also valid.)

See you in next month’s book stack. 💬📚

Spoiler alert: stop reading if you don’t want to know……..

September’s pick is Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, because sometimes the best form of self-care is laughing so hard you forget what you were spiraling about in the first place. 😅 Stay tuned.

Written by Stacy Dahlke, LPC, an EMDR-trained therapist helping anxious, overwhelmed adults in Wisconsin navigate trauma, adult ADHD, identity shifts, and the emotional plot twists that come with healing.