I’ve not yet been married. And so many people use marriage to gauge people’s capacity for commitment. For years, I didn’t argue with this, but it always got under my skin.
I WOULD say I’m a runaway. I ran away from corporate NYC at age 27 to pursue a dream to cook on sailboats and be a photographer around the world. I ditched the East Coast to feel out a vision of life in San Francisco. Then I cut out of San Francisco to take over leadership of a non-profit I unintentionally launched in South Los Angeles.
As I moved through my 30s and into my 40’s, I got little anxious about this commitment thing. Was being single, kid-free, and a renter-not-a-home-owner, all evidence of a lack of ability to commit? I had to REFRAME to avoid going into existential overload.
Today, I can look back and see my FIERCE COMMITMENT – to TAKING RISKS, FOLLOWING DREAMS, TRUSTING MY GUT, and to visiting my dearest loved ones, who simply aren’t all in one place. And, though it didn’t feel like a commitment until recently (I didn’t “sign up” for it in advance), I HAVE stuck through 12 years of running and funding a youth-focused non-profit. Which, also led me to get a degree in clinical psychology, which led me to complete the nightmarish MFT licensing process so I can now be your therapist.
I’m committed to being PRIMED TO PIVOT – to taking even small steps towards dreams, ideas, instincts, and visions without knowing where they may go. I’ve seen over time, what can happen when you choose to take at least ONE step toward a new idea, then maybe another. These first teeny steps are some of the most powerful commitments.
Megan Hanson Psychotherapy 