In My Corner

I spent two years tucked in the corner of a therapist’s couch. My husband sat to my right, my shrink faced us in her chair. Week in, week out, that was my place and I occupied it faithfully, even when I went to therapy alone.

It was in one such solo session that I decided to leave my husband, and made plans to break the news to him there in the office at our next shared appointment.

I arrived bleary-eyed, buzzing with queasy anticipation. As I took up my miserable corner perch, my shrink (God bless her), casually remarked “perhaps you’d like to try a different chair today.”

What a concept. How easy it was to shift from one piece of furniture to another, and view the familiar office from an entirely new perspective. How simple to break a pattern and suddenly see the world afresh.

I learned a powerful lesson that day about being stuck, breaking loose and choosing to define your own point of view. From my new post in the armchair, ending my marriage felt less like the desperate escape it had seemed, and more like the well-considered, rational and self-affirming decision it was.

A person “backed into a corner” is someone with no choice. But on that day, I knew that choices were, in fact, just about all I had left. And with a nudge from a very wise therapist, I was finally in a position to make them.