Welcome to the Waiting Room Therapy Blog! I’m so glad you are here!
Let me take a second to introduce myself! My name is Melanie (Mel) Spurgeon, and I am a holistic therapist just trying to spread a little encouragement and support as we try to care for ourselves when life is hard and uncertain. I have been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Tennessee since 2018, but I’m also just a human trying to navigate life. I love renovating old furniture, chatting with friends at local coffee shops, running, singing, and adventuring outdoors. I care deeply about helping women with anxiety, trauma, and burnout, reconnect with their natural and unique inner strengths as they move through the waves of life. I continue to be inspired and in awe of human resilience and our capacity to heal and grow in the midst of difficult life circumstances.
The “Why” behind Waiting Room Therapy
So why start Waiting Room Therapy? The idea for this blog was born in 2020 during the pandemic, when all of us were forced to stop and wait. In that season, our discomfort and avoidance with the experience of waiting was put under a magnifying glass. A shift in our pace of life while we juggled more unknowns than usual was really scary, but it also invited us to reflect. There is a tension and impatience that naturally comes with waiting, but when we pause, there is also the opportunity to connect with ourselves a little bit deeper. When we have a moment to slow down, the truth about our longings, hopes, and fears have a way of surfacing, and I believe we can learn how to care for ourselves in those spaces instead of trying to mentally, emotionally, or physically escape them.
My experience with waiting
If you are a person, you know what it’s like to wait. Since we were kids, we’ve waited to open birthday presents, in a line at the store, to be asked out on a date, for college acceptance letters, for a job offer, for test results, and have sat for hours in doctor’s waiting rooms. Like you, I am familiar with the struggle of anticipation and wondering what is going to happen next. I have personally felt the growing pains of waiting, specifically in medical waiting rooms for years with health issues and infertility, and if I’m being honest, I hate them. I don’t like being still, because that’s usually where my unprocessed emotions, anxiety, and grief try to catch up to me. I’m learning how to lean in, and show compassion and gentleness towards my fears, hopes, and doubts, and I’d love to share them with you.
Rebranding our experience with waiting, pausing, and slowing down
In a way, I’m here to rebrand our relationship with waiting, taking pauses, and slowing down. We have learned to put too much emphasis on movement and “doing”, and without realizing it we can lose connection to “being.” This is so real for me. Taking a moment to pause helps us get a better sense of who we want to be, so it can then inspire what we want to do. Waiting does not have to be a passive experience, it can be an opportunity to connect us in the present moment with intentionality, and give us the time and space we need to feel, learn, and grow.
The posts I plan to write on the Waiting Room Therapy blog are not only to meet you in a pause, but to invite you into one. Trust me, I’m with you, and I know it is definitely not easy to slow down and get real with yourself. Sometimes, slowing down is just too much and we need to have fun, get creative, or watch New Girl for the millionth time. But we need access to both sides. My desire is to create an authentic space to get curious and navigate the tension of what we need together.
Topics you can expect to read in Waiting Room Therapy
You can expect posts covering mental wellness, the mind-body connection, infertility, relationships, growth, therapy, and how to soothe your nervous system as we walk this journey together. However, if along the way you find yourself really connecting or uncovering some things in your own story that need support and guidance, I would strongly recommend reaching out to your therapist. While I am a therapist myself, nothing on this blog constitutes medical advice and is not a substitute for your own therapeutic work or mental health treatment.
Join me in the waiting
At the end of the day, waiting isn’t as difficult when there is someone in that uncomfortable waiting room seat next to you. There have been some difficult and scary medical appointments when a friend, mentor, or my husband has lovingly offered to attend with me. In some scenarios we cracked stupid jokes, other moments called for adorable puppy videos, and a lot of times we cried in the car afterwards. We can’t wait, hold uncertainty, and move through life alone. I truly hope my personal experience and professional training shared on this platform can offer you encouragement, resources, and stories you can relate to in this season of life. I look forward to pausing with you in Waiting Room Therapy.
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