A tale of two friends

[Ron]

I have these two friends. One a man, the other a woman, both some of the first box owners. Or should I say, “beta testers”. For the purpose of this post, let’s call him “Henry” and her “Kate”.

I have always been a major skeptic when it comes to things like this. “Just another gimmick” is the first thing that comes to my mind. People will try to make a buck off of just about anything. But when I heard about this so-called “ugly box”, it struck me differently somehow. The concept was sound. I have heard therapists talk about this kind of thing for years and, although it made sense, I had never given it much thought until someone I knew actually decided to try it.

Of the two friends I mentioned, Henry has been using his box like crazy, Kate has not. Henry has put a great deal of his past on pieces of paper, read over them, studied them, then put them into the box. I saw him the weekend he got his box and then again the next weekend. I could already see a difference in him. He told me about how it made him feel to get rid of those pieces of paper and that he now feels as though the troublesome subjects on them were “in the box” as well.

Every person in the mental health profession I have ever spoken to suggests that identifying what is bugging you is key to overcoming it. Just like mechanics cannot repair cars if they don’t know what is broken. Henry still has work to be done, but now it appears he is back on the road to recovery.

Kate seems to be taking a much slower approach. She, to the best of my knowledge, has not gotten as far as Henry and is still deciding what to write down. But she is thinking about it. It appears as though she is carefully drawing up a plan of attack before going into battle. Although I have not seen the same changes in her as I have in Henry, I have noticed something different about her. I think it could best be described as a more determined mood.

Two different people, two different battle plans. Which one is most effective? Personally, I feel it comes down to a personal choice and that they will both emerge victorious in the end.

I will keep you posted.