Your Story Counseling Services, LLC

05/18/2026

... and let's be that person for the others in our lives, too!

05/09/2026

Find your people… and work to be that person for others.

04/27/2026

So profound... be sure to read the text and take it to heart.

I used to think healing meant forgetting, but now I know it means remembering without drowning, revisiting the ruins without needing to rebuild them, walking past the damage and still choosing to plant something beautiful where the fire once was.

You thought healing would mean the past stops existing, that the memories fade, that you'd eventually forget what hurt you. But that's not how it works. Healing doesn't erase what happened. It changes your relationship to it. You can remember without being consumed. You can revisit the pain without living there. You can acknowledge the ruins without trying to restore what was destroyed.

Walking past the damage and still choosing to plant something beautiful where the fire once was, that's healing. Not forgetting the fire existed, but refusing to let it be the only thing that grows there. You carry the scars, the memories, the knowledge of what burned. But you also carry seeds. And the power to choose what grows in the aftermath. Healing isn't amnesia, it's integration. It's remembering what happened while building something new from the ashes. And that's more powerful than forgetting ever could be.

04/10/2026

03/18/2026

What will you do today toward these goals?

03/16/2026

Words matter, often more than we think they do.

For years, I used a certain mug for my morning cup of tea. One that someone bought me as a present once.
They probably forgot they’d even given it to me.

I once listened to a song on repeat for days because I fell in love with it after someone told me it was their favourite.
They probably forgot they’d even told me that.

I once had an outfit that I wore over and over after someone stopped me in the street to compliment me on it.
They probably forgot they’d even done that.

They probably forgot.
But I didn’t.

I remembered it all, to the point where the mug and the song and the outfit became little things in my life that brought me great joy.

So never underestimate the little things you do every day. The seemingly trivial, forgettable things.

Because, whilst they might be trivial and forgettable to you,
I can almost guarantee that for someone else…

they could be entirely
the opposite.

*******

Becky Hemsley 2023
Beautiful artwork by Christina Farrell

Once is from 'Letters from Life'

02/02/2026

An important life skill!