There are phrases that mark a before and after. This one, by Jacques Lacan, pierces the soul: “The only thing one can be guilty of is having given in to desire.”
And it’s not an invitation to whim. This isn’t about the superficial desire to have or to possess. We’re talking about the deepest desire, the one that constructs us, that pushes life toward its singular course.
Many come to the consultation without knowing what’s wrong with them, with anxiety, insomnia, relationship conflicts, existential anguish… And, little by little, a simple and devastating truth is revealed: they have betrayed themselves. They have given in to what they desired. They have given up on themselves.
Psychoanalysis doesn’t judge, it listens. It doesn’t prescribe, it interprets.
And in this journey of words and silences, we begin to stop living for the desire of others, for commands, for what should be, and we begin to live for what burns within us.
In the consultation, every word spoken opens up a possibility for transformation.
To let go of the symptom, yes. But also to recover something more valuable: the desire to live intensely, creatively, to live better in the years to come.
You are not here to adapt. You are here to write your name in the story you want to inhabit.
Your desire is not a problem. It is your compass.
Virginia Valdominos, psychoanalyst.
Photo by Wiki Sinaloa on Unsplash
