Week #7 Story: Sita Goes to Therapy

[Author's Note: if you have not read my previous story from Week #5, Rama Goes to Therapy, should you definitely read that first before reading this story. Link available here]

 Sita Goes to Therapy

While the celebration of Rama's coronation as the King of Ayodha was a happy event for most, it would seem that not everybody in attendance was eating delicious food or imbibing delicious drinks. Sita sauntered in the corner, looking as upset as a dog that had been left out in the rain overnight.

She glared at Rama and watched him as he casually chatted with the party guests. 'How could he be so frickin' happy?' she wondered. 

"Maybe there's nothing wrong and he's just tired from the war? No, that can't be right. I could count the amount of words that he'd said to me since the raid on Lanka with my own two hands," she muttered. She continued to pace, her sad saunter turning into angry shuffling. "I have done NOTHING but be loyal to him and this is the thanks I get?"

Fortunately, the ever-observant Lakshmana noticed Sita boiling over and he came to talk with her. "Good evening, Sita" he spoke gently. His voice sounded like riding on silk, and there was a deep warmth to the sound of his voice. 

"Hey, Lak," Sita sighed. It certainly didn't take someone as perceptive as Lakshmana to notice that Sita had the weight of the world on her shoulders and that she had a lot on her mind. 

"You know that I'm not one to pry," Lakshamana started, "but is this about my brother, King Rama?"

"Don't you know it," Sita sighed. As she exhaled, she let her tense shoulders fall to the ground and hang there. 

Lakshamana suggested that she go pay a visit to the court therapist. "Surely she will be help to help process and digest your problems. I went to visit her just before our exile and she really helped me come to terms with everything that was happening."

Sita figured that she really didn't have much of a reason to not go. Surely going to a therapy session is easier than a trial-by-fire by the fire god, Agni, himself, right? She retired from the party so that she could get up early and go to therapy. Rama didn't notice. 

At the crack of dawn, Sita woke up, feeling a little groggy but none more so than usual. She wanted to be alone the previous night, so she slept in her private chambers. On her way out, she peeked into the room where Rama had crashed. He reeked of enough booze to drown a cow. 

Sita walked into the therapist's office and they exchanged pleasantries. Sita explained the situation from her perspective to the therapist. The therapist occasionally nodded and jotted some notes down in between sips of tea.

When Sita had finished, the therapist took one last sip of tea, set the cup down, and began to talk. Sita couldn't place what it was exactly, but something about the therapist's voice was calm and soothing. "Sita, it seems that there is an imbalance in your relationship with Rama," the therapist spoke calmly. 

'An imbalance in my relationship with Rama? Next, she'll tell me that the sun will come up tomorrow,' Sita thought mockingly to herself.

The therapist's next words cut through Sita's thoughts like a knife through hot butter: "actually, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. Not a ray of sunshine to be seen."

Sita was blown away at what she just heard. "Did you just... read my mind?" she whispered in shock. 

"Yes," replied the therapist, her voice now firm but still calm, "when I was a young child, I was seriously injured at the hands of a careless brahmin who mistook me for his next target on a hunting trip. After I had healed and patched up, the brahmin appealed to the gods to give me a boon to smooth things over. Saraswati was the first goddess to respond, so she gave me the ability to read others' minds. This is what makes me a great therapist. But alas, we're not here to discuss me. We're here to discuss you. Why do you think that your relationship with Rama is unbalanced?"

Sita sighed and said, "is it because I love him and he doesn't love me back?"

The therapist replied, "I don't think that that's it. Let me put it this way: you certainly love Rama, Rama certainly loves himself, and Rama certainly loves you (why else would he go to all those lengths to rescue you?)... Sita, do you love yourself?" 

Sita reflected on that for a long time. The further back she went, the harder it was to find things that she'd done in the name of self-love. She realized that she had a tendency to project her need for external affirmation and validation onto Rama, so when he was unable to provide that affirmation, it caused a problem. 

"Now, that was a breakthrough." the therapist praised Sita for her revelation. Sita was still freaked out that her therapist could read her mind and the minds of others, but accepted the compliment anyways. 

"Now, how can you take these thoughts and apply them?" the therapist continued, "make time for yourself and do silly things that bring you joy. When it comes to Rama, let him know that you need him to actually show up and show his love for you. If words of affirmation are something that you need to hear, then you should be hearing those from the ones you hold dear. Otherwise, you're going to risk sinking yourself into Rama and giving him your unwavering loyalty even if he doesn't deserve it."

Sita thanked the therapist profusely and went back to her chambers. She was brimming with excitement waiting for Rama to wake up so that they could have the right conversations to steer them back on track to a healthy relationship. 

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Author's Note: This story acts as a second part to an alternate ending to Part D of the Ramayana. I drew a lot of inspiration from Nina Paley's "Sita Sings the Blues" (link) but wanted to toy with the idea of the main characters facing their flaws and weaknesses in order to grow emotionally.

(Therapy - image credit)