Solomon E. Stretch, LPC, NBCC, SAP, MAC, ICAADC, CAADC

By Solomon E. Stretch, LPC, SAP, MAC, ICAADC, CAADC For a long time, I thought love was something to earn, manage, or preserve—like a fragile asset that could be lost if handled incorrectly. What I’ve learned instead is this: love is not conditional, but it is  boundaried. Love doesn’t disappear when boundaries appear. Love actually becomes clearer, safer, and more sustainable when boundaries exist. Love is not one-size-fits-all. It shows up differently depending on the space, the...

By Solomon E. Stretch, LPC, SAP, MAC, ICAADC, CAADC I've learned from one of my favorite mentors, Lisa Nichols, that: You have nothing to protect You have nothing to prove You have nothing to hide And from that, i've come to understand that many of us were taught to treat identity like a job. Something to manage. Something to protect. Something to prove. We learn early on that who we are is tied to how well we perform—how consistent we appear, how reliable our image is, how closely we match...

By Solomon E. Stretch, LPC, SAP, MAC, ICAADC, CAADC We don’t talk enough about the gap —that strange, quiet, stretchy space between who you were and who you’re becoming . It’s not glamorous. It’s not immediately rewarding. It’s not the “arrival moment” you post online. It’s the in-between. The middle place. The valley between two mountaintops . And yet, this is where your real life is happening. The gap is where your character grows, your mindset shifts, and your identity starts to catch up...