Sherrie Campbell - Your Pocket Therapist: Quick Hacks for Dealing with Toxic People While Empowering Yourself

Your Pocket Therapist

YOUR

POCKET
THERAPIST

Quick Hacks for Dealing
with TOXIC People
While Empowering Yourself

DR. SHERRIE CAMPBELL

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

YOUR POCKET THERAPIST

Quick Hacks for Dealing with Toxic People While Empowering Yourself

2021 Dr. Sherrie Campbell

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James is a trademark of Morgan James, LLC. www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

ISBN 9781631952128 paperback

ISBN 9781631952135 eBook

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938667

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Interior Design by:

Chris Treccani

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To my daughter Londonyou are my Reason in life

I am Dr. Sherrie Campbell, your pocket therapist. Today is a new beginning for you . If youre reading this book, then you are ready for a fresh start with new information.

Youre done with people taking advantage of you.

Youve had enough with being the good person who is consistently scapegoated as the bad guy.

We will take a look at your pain and confusion and commit to not leaving you there.

I promise you that youre not hopeless, and I will make sure to help you see this every single day.

We will examine your pain and confusion and guide you to what you can do to get better.

You will find out what you have learned from your mistakesthe mistakes you may still continue to make. And I will counsel you on what you can do to make better decisions going forward.

We will discover where youre stuck and who or what you may need to let go of to get to that amazing life you know deep down you are capable of living.

I will show you how to heal old hurts and help you to stop repeating emotional patterns that do not serve you.

We will discover what it is youre looking to transform.

Bottom line: Together, we will supply what you need to change your life for the better day by day.

When you need me, I will be here. All you have to do is open this book. In it you will find my advice designed for you. It comes from nearly thirty years as a clinical psychologist and author. It is also directly inspired by my own suffering of growing up in a deeply toxic family system and my repetition of those toxic patterns into my adult lifeuntil one day, I stopped the destructive cycle. I offer myself to you as a fellow sufferer who, like you, has suffered deeply and yet has found the way to live beyond it. We are all human here.

Know, too, that I have not and do not suffer less just because I am a psychologist. My textbooks in psychology provided great information, but they were far from the best teachers Ive had in my life. As surprising as it may sound, my greatest teachers have been those people who have hurt and confused me the most. Without them, I would never have my depth, the grit to survive, the humility to know I need help and guidance, and the courage to thrive in spite of all of them.

Now, I own me .

And I will teach you to own you .

This daily devotional is your pocket coach for helping you to heal yourself and set the necessary boundaries around the toxic people in your life. Each day, you will learn something new about them and something empowering about you. I want each of you to have this knowledge in your pocket so in critical moments you have a quick reference to help you with toxic people.

This is free therapy every day!

Here is one of the many things that I know with certainty: If you want to feel better, you have to get better.

I will coach you, just as I do my weekly patients, to love yourself, to put yourself first, and to choose high quality thoughts, emotions, environments, friends, relationships, and careers. You will learn to choose the company of those who love you, appreciate you, and uphold you.

As you learn to choose better and use this coaching to move you in the direction of becoming the best person you can be, your life will transform. I can guarantee that as you heal, the people you attract into your life will be healthier. I guarantee that you will find the strength to release those individuals who no longer make sense for your life. When you start choosing better, you naturally start living up to new standards. If you dont know your standards, I will teach you. These new standards will become a reflection of your own self-love and respect.

Your Pocket Therapist will enable you to feel loved and supported with great and simple advice each day. If you have never felt loved in a relational commitment, it may be because you were never first committed to yourself. I will teach you how to put yourself first without feeling guilty. It is my lifes work to help you to own and take responsibility for your happiness. I will teach you how to bring joy to the table without your having an expectation for others to serve it to you. I will introduce you to the unrealized power that lies within you.

When were going through tremendous change, it often feels like were about to breathe in our last breath. When our hearts break, it feels like our whole person breaks. I know from experience that whenever I am in a great deal of uncertainty, I suffer. My knees feel watery, and it feels terrifying to take my next step. There is no guarantee if the next step will be safe when life is uncertain. These experiences define what it means to be human and vulnerable. I always tell myself when I am in these times of life, Its going to be okay . I also remind myself, Its okay NOT to be okay . That may sound like a revolutionary idea, but it shouldnt be.

Why do we feel like we have to always be okay to be lovable? Can we stop that belief right here and right now, please?

Its far better for us all to work on being human and throw the perfection expectation out the window.

Take some time right now to look back on all the moments you have wept, failed, or felt rejected, abandoned, or beaten down. What do you see?

What I see is that you are still here! Whatever or whomever it was that hurt you, they didnt win. Can you see that? So far, nothing or no one has ever been strong enough to take you completely down. You may have felt lost at times. You may even feel lost now. In the midst of that, though, realize that you are already ahead of those who have hurt you.

Keep this in your pocket

Its okay to be lost and to feel lost.

Life will change. The greatest advice I can give you is: Let it. If things are changing, they are changing so other things can find their way to better your life. I truly believe lifes intention is good for each of us, although it doesnt always feel that way.