Most of us therapists are driven by a sense of duty and care--a drive to help others. The root of this duty, this drive, is different for all of us. Perhaps we sensed our emotional lives were more complex than those around us as children, we find ourselves fascinated by others’ life stories, or we feel compelled to relieve others’ pain. Whatever our motive for becoming therapists, being a therapist is not our purpose.  In this post, I cover the reasons why our work is not our purpose, and I tell you how I discovered this for myself.