A lot of my clients are shy or prickly when we first meet. That's ok. I know that it's just protecting them. You can be prickly or shy or "difficult" when we work together. There's no particular way you have to be in therapy. I am here to support you, no matter how you show up. We can figure it out.

I also saw some burdocks and got thinking about how we think prickliness is a bad thing, but it helps spread the seeds of other plants. Just because it's unhelpful to our clothes and pets' fur doesn't mean it's inherently bad. That's just an unintended side effect of its true and useful function.