Life By Design Counseling

10/15/2026

“It's just anxiety.”

For someone living with chronic illness, those words can be especially difficult to hear when they feel there is still something medically unexplained.

But here's the nuance: Anxiety and physical illness can coexist. Sometimes their symptoms overlap. Sometimes chronic illness contributes to anxiety. And sometimes an anxiety diagnosis becomes the lens through which every subsequent symptom is interpreted.

Addressing someone's mental health should never mean we stop taking their physical health seriously.

In my latest article, I explore this complicated intersection and the emotional impact of feeling dismissed in medical settings.

Read the full article below. 💚

10/12/2026

Maybe you're not sure whether it's narcissistic abuse.
Maybe "toxic" feels too strong.
Maybe there are wonderful parts too, and that's exactly what makes it so confusing.
Maybe you're still in the relationship and trying to understand what's happening. Or maybe the relationship has ended, but you're still trying to make sense of what happened.
You can start with what you do know:
Something about this relationship has left you questioning yourself, your perceptions, or what is healthy.
And you'd like help understanding it.
That's enough of a place to begin.
Life By Design Counseling provides therapy for women who are trying to understand or recover from difficult, confusing, and emotionally harmful relationships in Middle Georgia and through telehealth across Georgia.

10/11/2026

Sometimes your mind is still trying to make sense of an experience that didn't make sense while you were living it.
What did they mean?
Was I overreacting?
Did that really happen the way I remember it?
What should I have said differently?
Recovery often involves shifting from endlessly analyzing their behavior to becoming curious about your own experience:
What did I feel?
What did I need?
What did I learn to ignore in myself?
That's a very different kind of understanding.

10/09/2026

You can know what happened.

You can trust what you experienced.

And you can make decisions about what you need now, even if someone else sees the relationship differently.

Healing isn't always about finally reaching a shared understanding.

Sometimes it's about realizing you may not need one in order to move forward.

10/05/2026

How long does it take to heal from narcissistic abuse?

It's one of the questions I hear often, and it's a difficult one to answer because healing doesn't follow a single timeline.

But there's another part of this question that I think matters:

What if healing has already started, even if the relationship hasn't ended?

We often talk about recovery as though it begins the day someone leaves. But for many women, healing begins earlier. It may begin when you recognize a pattern, start trusting your own perceptions again, set a boundary, reach out for support, or simply begin asking different questions about what you're experiencing.

And yes, distance from ongoing harm can create more room for healing to progress. Both things can be true.

In my newest article, I talk about what narcissistic abuse recovery can actually look like, why it often happens in layers, and why those difficult days that feel like setbacks may sometimes be more like pit stops along the way.

If you've ever wondered, “Why am I not over this yet?” or “Can I start healing if I'm still in the relationship?” I wrote this one with those questions in mind.

Read the full article at the link below.

https://www.lifebydesigncounseling.com/post/how-long-does-it-take-to-heal-from-narcissistic-abuse

08/29/2026

Check out a new health partner in our community! Great things are on the horizon!

Rooted Vitality Wellness offers mobile IV hydration services offering immunity drips, Myers’ cocktail, basic IV hydration, glutathione, NAD+, semaglutide, tirzepatide, and athlete recovery treatments—convenient, professional wellness care delivered directly to your home, office, or event.

08/24/2026

Feeling stuck doesn't always mean you're trapped.

Sometimes it means you've been trying to solve an impossible problem by yourself.

Trauma often teaches us to think in extremes:

"I either stay forever or leave tomorrow."

"I either have all the answers or none at all."

"I either know exactly what to do or I'm helpless."

But healing creates room for a third option.

Curiosity.

One conversation.
One boundary.
One journal entry.
One appointment.
One deep breath.

Tiny steps may not feel dramatic, but they have a way of changing the direction of a life.

08/21/2026

You think if you sit down and say it out loud, you'll have to leave.
Tonight. This week. Right now.
So you stay quiet. You keep functioning. You keep waiting until you're "sure enough" to face it.
But naming what's happening to you doesn't mean you have to make a decision today.
It just means you stop carrying it alone.
You can sit across from someone who believes you. Who doesn't flinch. Who doesn't rush you toward an exit sign before you're ready to walk through it.
Strength doesn't always look like leaving.
Sometimes it looks like finally saying the thing you've been afraid to say. Sometimes it looks like finding your voice again, one small true sentence at a time.
The decision will come. In its own time. In your time.
But movement can start now.
You don't have to have the plan. You don't have to have the courage to leave yet.
You just have to be willing to sit with someone who will hold space for you while you find it.
That's what I'm here for.

08/21/2026

You think if you sit down and say it out loud, you'll have to leave.
Tonight. This week. Right now.
So you stay quiet. You keep functioning. You keep waiting until you're "sure enough" to face it.
But naming what's happening to you doesn't mean you have to make a decision today.
It just means you stop carrying it alone.
You can sit across from someone who believes you. Who doesn't flinch. Who doesn't rush you toward an exit sign before you're ready to walk through it.
Strength doesn't always look like leaving.
Sometimes it looks like finally saying the thing you've been afraid to say. Sometimes it looks like finding your voice again, one small true sentence at a time.
The decision will come. In its own time. In your time.
But movement can start now.
You don't have to have the plan. You don't have to have the courage to leave yet.
You just have to be willing to sit with someone who will hold space for you while you find it.
That's what I'm here for.