Willow Tree Counselling

03/11/2026

😂

02/11/2026

❤️

01/11/2026

What a lovely walk in the wood today! I love seeing these toadstools - I’m immediately transported back to Enid Blyton books 🧚‍♀️

31/10/2026

Have you ever been around someone who makes it very clear they have a problem with you, but refuses to admit it?

The uncomfortable silences. The looks of contempt. The little passive aggressive digs. That awful tension whenever you’re in the same room.

You can feel the hostility, but there’s never anything concrete to challenge.

And when you finally ask what’s wrong?

“Nothing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve not done anything.”

This is where plausible deniability comes in.

It’s when someone behaves in a way that allows them to deny what they’re doing, because they’ve made sure there’s always another explanation.

The cutting remark? Only a joke.

The contemptuous look? You’re imagining things.

The uncomfortable silence? They’re just tired.

The hostility? Apparently, there isn’t any.

And here’s what makes it so difficult.

Every individual incident can be explained away, while the bigger pattern of behaviour goes completely unaddressed.

You start dreading being around them. Rehearsing conversations in your head. Trying to find the right words to address something the other person refuses to acknowledge.

Eventually, after months or even years of this, you react.

And suddenly YOU’RE the problem.

You’re angry. You’re unreasonable. You’re causing trouble.

Meanwhile, they can sit there looking perfectly reasonable because, according to them, they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.

And sometimes, much later, you discover they’ve been speaking terribly about you behind your back the entire time.

Of course, not every silence or awkward look is deliberate hostility. But when there’s a repeated pattern of passive aggression, contempt and denial, the impact can be enormous.

Just because someone has an explanation for every individual incident doesn’t mean the pattern isn’t real.

And you can spend years trying to have an honest conversation with someone who has absolutely no intention of having one.

30/10/2026

There comes a time when abandoning yourself again becomes too much to bear. But pushing back feels scary - “they will hate me” or “they will leave me”. The transition from pleasing others to give the same to yourself is uncharted territory and your nervous system will scream in fear. That’s the work - and that’s where you will need to sit for a while - in that discomfort. But that is also where you will grow. It is worth it because you are so worth it ❤️

29/10/2026

27/10/2026

When things don’t go according to plan 😂

26/10/2026

🫶