You and the person you are trying to help through peer counseling are in the same human boat. There is no life without troubles. The people you love get sick and die. Our needs turn out to be in conflict with the needs of people we care about. The best made agreements come unglued.
People fall out of love.
And it is always tempting to pretend that everything is just fine. I ll feel better if I have another drink. Our truthful lives will probably not get any easier, but they will get a lot more satisfying. As adults there are many new possibilities open to us that were not available to us when we were children . We can learn to negotiate more of our conflicts, to confront more of our difficulties and to be honest about our feelings without being mean.