It was my gift to myself for the new year. I’d been wanting it for a long time. I’d talked about it with my closest friends for over a year. But I failed to take the leap, spend the money, and just do it. But when Christmas came and went and 2014 arrived without this particular gift under my tree, I decided it was time to make the big plunge. I bought myself \u2026 an appointment with a counselor. You didn’t just read that wrong, and autocorrect didn’t make a mistake. I finally did it. I went to see a counselor.<\/p>\n
Many of you may wonder why this is a big deal and why I’m choosing to write about it. You see, I was involved in ministry whereby counseling was viewed negatively. Oh, there was no written stance against counseling; it was just the innuendos and comments that were made if someone went to a counselor. This was so ingrained to the extent that if you chose the wrong person, including one of secular origin, you were likely to obtain a demon. (I was already accused of having one of those so I don’t know what I really feared.)<\/p>\n
So I did it. I went. And it has been one of the best decisions of my life. More about that later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was my gift to myself for the new year. I’d been wanting it for a long time. I’d talked about it with my closest friends for over a year. But I failed to take the leap, spend the money, and just do it. But when Christmas came and went and 2014 arrived without this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzg9k-hR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1090,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/maybe-its-time-to-layoff-a-few-circus-jugglers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":0},"title":"Maybe It’s Time to Layoff a Few Circus Jugglers","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am confronted with this issue every single day of my life. I have been for quite a while but this one seems to get bigger rather than smaller. Here's my observation \u2014 we're all busy; too busy. American is filled with more to do. We have endless entertainment choices,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/20130216-234859.jpg?fit=272%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1560,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/assign-new-year-resolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":1},"title":"If I Were to Assign a New Year’s Resolution","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's that time of year when New Year's resolutions are made. It's also the time of year when those same resolutions are already being broken. One of the pastors at our church made this statement\u00a0on Sunday. \"What if your spouse or your pastor made your New Year's resolution for you?\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1033,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/really-im-out-of-control\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":2},"title":"Really . . . I’m Out of Control","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"April 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've often thought about it and wondered . . . what really is faith? I hear it used in so many different ways in today's culture. Yet, the Bible is pretty clear about what it is . . . it's the \"confidence in what we hope for\u00a0and assurance about what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2207,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/following-a-life-of-generosity\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":3},"title":"Following a Life of Generosity","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"November 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanksgiving was my dad\u2019s favorite holiday. While the rest of the family favored Christmas, he always loved Thanksgiving. One of those reasons was likely rooted in his profession as a farmer, and Thanksgiving was the natural culmination of his year-long efforts. Many of those years were difficult because the weather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"coworker giving coffees","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-7490977.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-7490977.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-7490977.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-7490977.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-7490977.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/christmas-letter-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":4},"title":"Christmas Letter 2015","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"December 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been awhile since we've sent a family Christmas letter, but this year has been filled with so many changes that we thought we should update all of you on the latest on the Plotner's in Colorado. After almost three years working at Church Community Builder, I left that job\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0711","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_0711-650x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_0711-650x650.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_0711-650x650.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1378,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/ski-slopes-snow-days-and-facing-fear\/","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":5},"title":"Ski Slopes, Snow Days, and Facing Fear","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"March 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This week my family took a \u201csnow day.\u201d It wasn\u2019t because the weather was bad, and we couldn\u2019t get out the driveway. My niece was visiting from Indiana over her college spring break. So what does every midwesterner do when they visit Colorado in the winter? 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