In this solo diary entry, hypnotherapist Caroline Cavanagh reflects on the challenges and motivations of running a solo practice. She outlines the practical demands of managing 14 weekly client sessions alongside marketing, bookkeeping, and administrative tasks, and expresses doubt about the effectiveness of her social‑media outreach, noting a recent post reached only 17 of her 2,500 followers. She re‑centers on her purpose: offering hope to clients dealing with anxiety and often co‑occurring depression, and emphasizes that her work is driven by a desire to help and be kind. Two spontaneous client emails confirming the lasting impact of her techniques serve as concrete evidence that her efforts ripple outward, even when she cannot see the results directly. She concludes that trusting one’s intention and reflecting on purpose can sustain energy during tough times, encouraging listeners to keep doing what they do.
Chapters
Hi there and welcome to the next edition of Diary of a Hypnotherapist, my way of practicing what I preach, big part of which is asking clients to reflect on what goes on in the past as a way of either changing the future or building on success. So this diary is to reflect on what I've done in the past week or so so that I can inform my future week too. And as we're still in early January as I record this, it's a time where things are still ramping up. I have 14 sessions that clients can book into in my diary every week, and alongside that, there's a lot of work that needs doing to fill those particular appointments— the marketing, the bookkeeping, the admin, all of the other stuff. That as a solopreneur needs to be done. And often when I'm doing things like social media, I wonder what impact is this really having? So for example, last week I sent out a social media post that got a reach of 17. I have over 2,500 followers on that particular platform. 17 people is what it was sent out to. And it makes me wonder, what is the point? And whilst I'm an anxiety specialist, I often work with people also who have depression, because anxiety, when it's untreated, can often escalate into depression because of the chemistry that's going on in the body. And so I hear a lot, What is the point? However, when people come here to me, I always work on the premise that their point is hope. They believe that there must be a different way to feel and that I'm a possible avenue to helping them access that feeling. They have a purpose to feel better. And so my way of picking myself up after putting the effort into creating this social media activity was to reflect on my purpose. Why do I do what I do? I don't like doing social media, that's the truth, but I do it because it's a way of reaching people. My purpose is to make the world a better place, sounding a bit like Oh. It's a lovely line on a film that I'm desperately trying to remember, but can't think of. But anyway, let— we'll move on from that. I like to be kind. I like to help people. That's my purpose. And often, we don't know the impact that we have. Twice last week, I received spontaneous emails from people telling me what a difference my work with them had made. I had no idea that they were still using the techniques that we'd shared, were still implementing the skills that they had. And so that's what I'm going to take away from my reflection this week. Sometimes we don't know what impact we have, and on the surface it may be very little, But trust that when you have an intention to do something positive, that ripples out and it touches people in ways that you may often never become aware of. But when you have a strong purpose to do something, that can give you the energy to keep doing, and at some point someone will let you know That you do make a difference through what you do, so just keep doing it. And that's my reflection for this week. I hope that it's helped you to reflect on something that you may have done, or perhaps helping you to refocus on your purpose, to give you the energy even when times are tough. Keep doing what you do. Take care.
