Last year Alice tragically lost her mother and her partner at the time ghosted her, adding to the emotional turmoil. It was at this difficult juncture that she decided to seek therapy.

Since the age of 17, she had always been industrious, working various jobs. Eventually, she established her own company.

During our sessions, which she diligently attended every week, she refrained from discussing her mother’s passing.

“I quit my own start-up. It’s been tough securing funding. I regret not going to business school. I should be applying for jobs. My father looks down on me because I’m not working. He just doesn’t understand me. At 34-years-old, I never imagined being in this position,” she expressed, sharing her anxieties and frustrations.

For months I listened to her get increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in her life.

After six months, she attempted to make a fresh start by moving to a new city, but even then, she struggled to break free from her state of internal immobilisation.

Her immobilization reached a point where she couldn’t even set up her new house.

“I need helping hands, and I have helping hands, but I’m still not doing anything. I have mentors, friends, colleagues, and coaches, but I can’t seem to take action,” she confessed.

I saw an image in my mind that I shared with her —

“I see that there are multiple hands reaching out to you, but you’re not taking the hands and letting them pull you.”

“I’m not letting them pull me because I’m not even sure where I want to be pulled towards,” she admitted tearfully.

“In my image,” I continued, “you are high up, away from the arms reaching out.”

“You’re right. I’m sitting high up on a pedestal, expecting the whole world to save me, but no one’s going to do it. I myself have to take action,” she acknowledged.

I asked her where she would like to begin and with a smile she said it would be the kitchen.

“Thank you for breaking me through. I have everything, but I need to make the first move. Maybe what I need first is an actual engine, like a gas stove,” she said with new found determination.