How do I cope with holding everyone's pain as a therapist?

You sit with people's pain all day and hold it steady for them, and no one warned you how heavy that container gets, or how little would be left over for you. That weight is real, and it is not a sign you are bad at this. It is the honest cost of doing exactly what the work asks of you. You were trained to hold others, but a container that is never emptied cracks. The care you give does not have to run one direction only. What you offer your clients, patience, attention, permission to rest, you are allowed to turn toward yourself too. That is not indulgence. It is maintenance. Build in the refilling on purpose, because it will not happen by accident. Your own support, whether supervision, your own therapy, or simply people who hold you the way you hold others. Guard time that is empty of everyone's pain, including your own work. You cannot be a steady container for others if no one, including you, ever tends to you.