Inner Choice Psychotherapy

08/28/2026

Fancy Salt Inside a J***y Container

I was sitting at dinner with my husband and son the other day and my son asked for some salt. My husband brought over the delicious Celtic sea salt in a wooden salt container. My son asked, “Hey would it be okay if I had the Malden salt instead?” My husband then proceeded to bring over the gourmet Malden sea salt in an old box with no lid, placed in an old plastic bag. He chuckled audibly and said, “We have the most gourmet salt inside such a j***y container.” Something about that hit me right in the gut. I could not figure out why. I kept repeating it over and over again, turning it around in my mind as it swirled in my gut.

What was it about this quippy phrase, said in jest, that moved me so?

I then realized that so much of the information we receive today seems to be aimed at fixing our j***y containers.

Commentary on containers...

Our bodies that house our organs, systems, minds, thoughts, feelings, reactions, sensations, experiences, and souls are constantly under critique. We are constantly hearing messages about our bodies not being good enough in some way–constant fodder on how to fix your j***y container.

We receive information about other containers as well. Our homes are constantly being compared to others in size, price, location, and decor.

Our work spaces as well. Much commentary about location, neighborhood, distance from home, comfortability, and view.

Not to mention the clothes that cover our containers and create another one. Have we achieved quiet luxury? How much do these clothes cost? Are they too modest, sexual, boring, hip?

I could write a whole book on container commentary and it could come from so many angles. I could write about the importance of embracing all kinds of containers, the harms of commentary, the importance of seeing containers, but for the purpose of this piece, I want to talk about our almost obsessive focus with messages around commentary on containers.

And I ask..

But what about the salt? The beautifully delicious, flakey, Malden sea salt.

We have gotten so fixated on containers that we have started to make many of our internal struggles into containers to either identify, or judge. Our mood disorders and our attachment styles have become containers.

Many people are no longer expressing that they are experiencing symptoms of anxiety, but rather they are an anxious person and they are anxiously attached. Their container is now anxiety.

People then want to sit and talk about their containers.

But what is forgotten is the salt.

The beautiful stuff inside. The insides that sometimes feel distress and threat, have experienced trauma, have been hurt, have rejoiced, have moods, have been influenced, troubled, boundaried and can heal.

The inside is what we need to focus on. Inside is where hope and transformation lie.

Inside is where you find the salt.

Connecting to what's inside in order to promote healing and decrease hopelessness.

06/14/2026

Criterium Racers: The Story Tellers

It’s race season again, and I am lucky enough to get to see my son participate in the thrill and challenge of criterium racing. This past weekend after coming down from the extreme high of watching him sprint across the finish line, I walked back to my car. I passed cyclists cooling down from their race and others getting ready for theirs, and I noticed that all around me were stories. Cyclists were telling their stories, stories of past racing experiences, stories about the race they just finished, stories about what was to come in the future. I realized at that moment that racing at this level, this pace, this intensity is risky, even though it is a chosen and calculated risk. It is a risk nonetheless, and, like any other risky situation we experience as humans, telling our story is a beautiful way to process and integrate the experience so we are able to get back on the horse of life or, in this case, back on the bike.

When you listen to cyclists after a race they share their experiences. They recount their bike handling at almost every corner, a place where they almost fell, a time another racer did something that seemed sketchy, a time that they felt disappointed, a moment in which they could barely breath. They recount the weather and how it impacted their performance, they check their stats and how they compared to their stats in previous races, they check on the results of the race and the omnium. You hear racers express anger, acceptance, and optimism.

This past race, there was a crash right in front of me and while my husband went to get this fallen cyclist some water, the cyclist turned to me and told me his story. His wheel had skidded over the manhole cover. The first thing he needed to do after removing himself from the course, before he received medical care, before he hydrated, was to tell his story. I listened and thought, again, how much there is to learn from these athletes. They maneuver as a group through winding roads and also as individuals with their own stories of past experiences, with their hopes for the future and their almost unworldly ability to stay completely present for 60 minutes of harrowing, character building, thrilling, yet grounded racing. They finish these experiences and share their stories with each other; they listen to each other and then they get back on their bikes and race the very next day.

Storytelling has been around since the beginning. It has always been how we as humans share knowledge, process feelings, and survive oppression. We tell stories to other humans who hear them and hold them and, in that process, help us keep going, surviving, reaching, and being.

Therapy can also be part of that process. Therapy is essential when people are in crisis or experiencing symptoms of great distress, and it can also be essential to everyday existence. As a therapist it is my privilege to be deeply engaged in the process of hearing people’s stories, holding them, and witnessing them.

Because we all should have the chance to tell our stories at the end of each day, after each risk, after each turn in the road. We all could learn from the cyclists who, like our ancestors before us, have made story telling part of the ritual of life.

The importance of storytelling for mental health as demonstrated by criterium road cyclists

05/05/2026

What does it mean to grieve the loss of a parent who suffered from memory loss? Our latest blog explores the complex nature of mourning.

Explore the layered grief of losing a parent with memory loss and how to process both what was lost and what was unexpectedly found.

04/27/2026

Annabeth, Founder and Psychotherapist at Inner Choice, reflects on the closing of her alma mater - Hampshire College

~Non Satis Scire~

A reflection on Hampshire College’s closure, its unique philosophy, and the legacy it leaves behind.

03/25/2026

What is growth?

Does it mean you have moved forward in someway
or can it be still?
Does it mean that you can answer the question
“What have you been up to these days?”
With new answers
shiny titles
new information

Or can the answer be:
I’ve been still
I’ve been compassionate
To myself

I can feel my heart beat
Like the waves of the river
The beating drums are quiet now

I can hear my feelings today
What was numb has thawed
What was braced is released

My thoughts you ask?
They are coming from the inside now
My thoughts
Reflective of myself

I am still
I have grown

02/10/2026

Is it really a therapy office without some plants? Come breathe the clean air at Inner Choice Psychotherapy 🪴🌱🌷

02/01/2026

We are celebrating five years of Inner Choice Psychotherapy in Chicago! Here at Inner Choice, we believe in seeing the whole person, including their culture, and the systems they are navigating. Thank you to all those who have helped Inner Choice become the practice it is today.

Explore our latest blog below…

Located in Andersonville, Inner Choice is celebrating five years of providing relational, culturally sensitive therapy to the Chicago community.