Sigourney walked into her therapist’s office, sighing, and took a seat in a chair. Lori, the therapist, looked at Sigourney and imagined how her next hour would go. She decided she needed to be authentic.
“Sigourney, I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t feel like talking about your issues with your sister today.”
“But that’s your job,” Sigourney said, slightly shocked. Her posture improved like a weight lifted from her shoulders.
“My job is to listen to you,” Lori said. “I’ll still listen. But can you pick something else to talk about?”
“But I come here to deal with my issues. That’s why I have a therapist.”
“Sigourney, you know how you love to talk about being authentic?”
“Yeah, it’s so important to always show up as your true self,” Sigourney said. She did talk about this a lot.
“So don’t you want an authentic therapist?” Lori asked.
“I thought I was getting an authentic therapist.”
“Well, today you are. I authentically want to talk about something other than your sister.”
“Can we talk about authenticity?” Sigourney asked.
“Sure.”
“What you’re doing—throwing authenticity in my face like this—is exactly what my sister did to me last week.”