You’ve found yourself on your therapist’s couch crying about the latest speed bump on the road of your love life yet again. But guess what comes up in your explanation? The fact that you feel like he was looking at you “like when Kermit drinks his tea, y’know?” But your therapist does not know. Your therapist now thinks you’re even more unhinged than when you first started seeing them. Here are a couple methods for explaining what popular memes are so that you can move past the confusion and get back on your mental health track.
The Calm Approach
Start from the beginning of the meme. Was it started by teen Twitter? Or did Tumblr do a thing? Try to explain it to your therapist as if you were explaining what the point of Facebook is to your grandmother. That is, very calmly, so she doesn’t start yelling at you to spell everything. It’s not your therapist’s fault that an entire social phenomenon has completely missed them. Maybe they were busy watching 60 Minutes when Housewives was on, and that’s why they don’t know where “twirl with the wind” came from. That’s understandable, you guess.
Roleplay
Maybe what’s stopping your therapist from fully understanding memes is the fact that they’re so removed from youth culture. Help them help you by asking them to walk a mile in a meme’s shoes. For example, you pretend to be a house on fire, and have your therapist pretend to be the little girl smirking in front of it. See? Now they’ll understand how you felt when you saw that your ex lost his job a week ago.
Try Some Journaling
Feeling frustrated that your therapist didn’t respond well to you singing, “Why you always lyyyyin’?” at their face when they tried to give you advice? Write about it. Just get it out of your system. Then, suggest that they do the same. Maybe there’s something holding them back from fully embracing the #memelyfe. See if you can coach it out of them. It’s important that they relate to you on this level. Don’t let them shy away from it. Really dig.
Just Go On Pinterest
Odds are your therapist isn’t on Pinterest. Maybe they’re the one with the problem, am I right? Haha. Regardless, pull up the app on your phone and give them a brief tour. Right away they should be able to understand the difference between a regular dog and a “doge.” This hands-on approach will also help them learn on their own. Soon, you’ll be emailing her screencaps of Tumblr posts! Finally!!!
Chances are your therapist will never fully understand what memes are about, and if that’s blocking you from receiving treatment, it’s time to end your relationship. Finding the right therapist can take time, but when it happens for you, you’ll be like “ermahgerd!”
