I Didn’t Do the Therapy Homework (Until I Did)

Week after week, I nodded along in therapy. I took notes. I said things like "That makes sense" and "I should try that."

And then I didn’t.

No follow-through. No homework. Just vibes.

The Resistance Is Real

It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I wanted to grow. I wanted things to change. But something in me kept resisting the actual work.

Some of it was fear:

• What if the homework actually worked?

• What if it didn’t?

• What if it cracked something open I wasn’t ready to face?

And some of it? Pure executive dysfunction. Avoidance. Anxiety. Life. A dozen valid reasons and a thousand excuses.

So I kept showing up. I kept talking about doing the work. But I didn’t do it.

The Moment Something Shifted

Then one week, without any big breakthrough or plan, I just… did it.

I picked up the sheet. I wrote something down. I let the exercise pull me into the thing I’d been avoiding.

And it hit me. Not because it was profound. But because it made me stop skimming.

It made me sit with something I’d been dancing around in session after session.

That one tiny assignment cracked something open.

It Wasn’t Easy. But It Helped.

The next week, I brought it in. Embarrassed. Weirdly proud.

My therapist didn’t throw a parade. She didn’t high-five me or toss confetti. She just nodded and said, "Good. Let’s talk about it."

And we did. And it sucked. And it helped.

The Real Work Starts When No One’s Watching

I still don’t do the homework every week. But I understand now why it matters.

Not because the worksheet is magical. Not because it’s graded.

But because it invites you to do the work when no one is watching.

And sometimes? That’s where the biggest shifts begin.

It’s not about compliance. It’s about willingness. It’s about leaning in. It’s about letting the process touch the parts you’ve been keeping locked away.

The stuff you avoid the hardest? That’s often where the healing lives.

So if you haven’t done the homework yet? You’re not failing. But maybe… give it a shot.

You might just surprise yourself.