So last week, I got curious about this therapy thing called role play after my neighbor mentioned it helped her kid with school anxiety. Figured I’d try it myself before writing anything. Grabbed my notebook and started digging around.
What I Actually Did In My Living Room
First, I made two chairs face each other – therapist style. Sat in one pretending to be Lucy (my made-up client stressed about work deadlines), then switched seats to play Dr. Lee (my therapist persona). Felt super awkward talking to myself out loud at first! Sounded something like:
Me as Lucy: “I keep missing deadlines because people dump extra tasks on me…”
Me as Dr. Lee: “Have you tried saying ‘I’m at capacity’ when that happens?”
Back as Lucy: “But what if they think I’m lazy?”
Did this ping-pong conversation for 15 minutes till my cat started judging me from the sofa.
The Messy Middle Part
Next day, tried it differently. Stood in front of my bathroom mirror pretending to be my own boss (weird, I know). Practiced saying “I can take that Tuesday” with different tones – assertive, nervous, sarcastic. Learned three things real quick:
- My confident voice sounds like a bad movie villain
- Eye contact with myself is DISTURBING
- Actual practice beats overthinking scenarios
Felt like an idiot but kept going anyway.
Surprising Stuff I Noticed
After a week of these experiments, weird benefits popped up:
- Perspective shift: Playing my boss made me realize he probably hates budget meetings too
- Muscle memory: My “no” actually sounded natural during real work calls
- Emotion detangling: Faking anger in role play showed what real anger feels like in my body
Best part? My neighbor was right about the fear thing – pretending to handle scary conversations actually made them less scary.
Why This Dumb Game Works
From my kitchen-table experiments, here’s why role play therapy helps:
- Creates emotional safe space – you can restart fights or mess up conversations without consequences
- Trains instinctive reactions – your brain files away practiced responses
- Makes abstract feelings physical – like when my shoulders tensed while role-playing stress
- Sneakily exposes blind spots – only realized I interrupt people when I did it to myself!
Still won’t do the mirror thing again though. That was next-level creepy.
