Personal growth · Individual therapy · Chicago
Therapy for Values and Purpose in Chicago
A life that looks sensible from the outside may no longer feel like your own. You may be meeting expectations without knowing which priorities you would choose if you paused to consider them.
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What you may be noticing
- Feeling disconnected from goals
- Making choices mainly to avoid disappointment
- Uncertainty about what feels meaningful
Your experience may look different. These examples are starting points for a conversation.
How we can work on this
We can explore what you care about in everyday terms and notice where your time and energy do or do not reflect it. Rather than require a single life purpose, we can identify choices that make the next chapter feel more intentional.
I am Sam Rustum, LCPC. My work is collaborative: we will discuss your priorities, choose a starting point, and check whether our approach is useful to you.
Looking at an ordinary week for clues
Purpose can feel like a question too large to answer. An ordinary week may give us a more useful starting point. When did you feel interested, connected, proud, resentful, or relieved? Which commitments felt chosen, and which felt difficult to question?
We can look at a specific decision, such as accepting another responsibility or protecting time with someone you care about. Both options may reflect something important. I may ask what each choice gives you, what it costs, and whose expectations shape the decision. The aim is to understand the tradeoff clearly enough to choose with intention.
From there, you might try a modest change and notice what it is like to live with it. We can revisit your priorities as circumstances change. Questions about meaning often overlap with achievement and recognition or a possible change at work, but purpose can also be expressed through relationships, interests, and everyday care.
Questions you may be asking
Do I need to discover one lifelong purpose?
You can care deeply about several parts of life. We can identify directions that matter now and consider how to give them space. You do not need one statement that explains every decision or remains unchanged forever.
What if my priorities conflict with my family's expectations?
We can explore the importance of family, belonging, responsibility, and personal choice in your situation. I will want to understand what those relationships mean to you. We can consider ways to communicate and make choices that recognize the values involved.
Will therapy tell me which values are right?
My role is to help you examine your experience and choices, including places where your actions and stated priorities differ. We can ask difficult questions together while leaving room for your own judgment about the life you want to build.
A place to begin
Let’s make room for what you need.
A free 15-minute consultation gives us a chance to talk about what is difficult, answer your questions, and consider whether working together fits what you need.