What’s One Hour a Week Worth to You?

One hour. Sixty minutes. It’s less than 1% of your week. You might spend it scrolling social media, watching half a movie, sitting in traffic, or trying to fall asleep at night. This small fraction of time often passes without much thought or intention.

But what if that single hour became something different? What if it became a dedicated space for your mental and emotional wellbeing? What if it was the only hour in your entire week that existed solely for understanding yourself, addressing what’s difficult, and growing toward what matters to you?

At Televero Health, we often hear concerns about the time commitment therapy requires. People wonder if they can justify a weekly hour for themselves when so many other priorities compete for their time. They worry it might be selfish or impractical to carve out this regular space in busy schedules.

Today, we’re exploring a question that frames this consideration differently: What’s one hour a week actually worth to you?

How We Spend Our Time

Before considering the value of an hour for therapy, it’s worth reflecting on how time typically gets allocated in modern life:

The average American adult spends:

• 2-3 hours daily on social media

• 3+ hours daily watching television

• 1-2 hours daily on email

• 5+ hours weekly in meetings that could have been emails

• 4-5 hours weekly sitting in traffic

• Countless hours ruminating on past events or worrying about future ones

Many of these time expenditures happen by default rather than deliberate choice. They slip into our lives without conscious decision, gradually consuming hours that might otherwise be directed toward what truly matters to us.

This context isn’t meant to induce guilt—there’s nothing wrong with relaxation or entertainment. But it does highlight how rarely we question certain time allocations while scrutinizing others that might actually better serve our wellbeing and values.

The Hidden Costs of Avoidance

When considering whether therapy is “worth the time,” it’s important to recognize the time already being spent managing challenges without support:

Time lost to worry and rumination. Mental health challenges often consume significant mental bandwidth through persistent worry, replaying past events, or anticipating future difficulties. This internal activity continues regardless of what else you’re doing, creating a constant background drain on attention and energy.

Time spent managing symptoms. Whether it’s hours lost to insomnia, energy depleted by anxiety, productivity diminished by depression, or time devoted to unhelpful coping mechanisms, untreated mental health concerns silently consume far more than one hour weekly.

Relationship time compromised by unaddressed issues. Time physically present with loved ones has diminished value when mental preoccupation, emotional unavailability, or recurring conflicts stemming from unaddressed issues prevent genuine connection during that time.

Recovery time after emotional flooding. Without effective regulation strategies, emotional challenges often lead to periods of flooding or shutdown that require significant recovery time—far more than would be spent developing preventive skills.

Future time mortgaged by growing problems. Many challenges become more complex and entrenched when unaddressed, ultimately requiring more extensive intervention and recovery time than they would have if addressed earlier.

These hidden time costs rarely appear in conscious calculations of how we spend our hours, yet they often far exceed the time investment therapy would require.

Quality vs. Quantity: The Value of Protected Time

Beyond simple hour-counting, therapy offers a qualitatively different kind of time that serves unique functions:

Fully protected space. Unlike most life contexts where multiple priorities compete for attention, therapy creates space exclusively devoted to your wellbeing—free from interruptions, distractions, or competing demands.

Time with complete attention. The undivided attention of another person—with no expectation of reciprocity or performance—has become increasingly rare in modern life. This quality of attention creates possibilities for insight and connection not easily found elsewhere.

Future-saving time. Like preventive healthcare, time invested in therapy often saves significant time later by addressing issues before they create more extensive disruption or require more intensive intervention.

Efficiency through expertise. While personal reflection and self-help can be valuable, the specific expertise of a trained professional often helps identify patterns and pathways forward more efficiently than solitary efforts.

Consolidated processing time. Rather than fragmented moments of partial attention to important issues, therapy creates continuous, focused time for issues that benefit from sustained engagement rather than piecemeal consideration.

These qualitative aspects help explain why a single dedicated hour can have disproportionate impact compared to many more hours of scattered attention or unguided personal reflection.

The Compound Effect: How One Hour Extends Beyond Its Boundaries

The impact of therapy isn’t confined to the session itself. Like compound interest in finance, the benefits accumulate and expand over time:

Skills development and transfer. Capacities developed in therapy—emotional regulation, communication approaches, self-awareness practices—become available in all life contexts, not just during sessions.

Continued integration between sessions. Insights and experiences from therapy naturally continue processing between sessions as your mind integrates new perspectives and information.

Reduced time spent in unhelpful patterns. As therapy helps shift repetitive thought patterns, emotional responses, or behavioral cycles, the time previously consumed by these patterns becomes available for more fulfilling activities.

Increased efficiency in other activities. Improved emotional regulation, reduced internal conflict, and greater clarity often create more efficient engagement with other responsibilities, partially offsetting time invested in therapy.

Long-term benefits beyond active therapy. Many therapy benefits continue developing long after formal therapy concludes, creating ongoing return on the initial time investment.

This compound effect means the actual value derived from therapy typically far exceeds what could reasonably be expected from a single hour weekly, were that hour devoted to almost any other activity.

The Value Proposition of Different Therapy Models

Not all therapy requires the same time commitment, and different approaches offer varying value propositions:

Traditional weekly therapy provides consistent support and development through regular sessions, typically for several months to a year or more. This model works well for addressing persistent patterns, processing significant life experiences, or navigating complex challenges.

Brief, solution-focused approaches concentrate on specific concerns through targeted intervention, often requiring just 5-10 sessions. These approaches maximize efficiency for discrete issues or clearly defined goals.

Biweekly or monthly sessions create extended support with less time commitment, appropriate for maintenance after initial progress or for issues requiring less intensive intervention.

Single-session or consultation models provide focused input and direction in extremely time-efficient formats, offering valuable perspective without ongoing commitment.

Intensive formats like half-day or full-day sessions can accommodate time constraints that make regular attendance challenging, compressing therapeutic work into fewer, longer meetings.

At Televero Health, we recognize that time constraints are real, and we work with clients to find approaches that provide meaningful support within the practical realities of their lives.

Reframing the Investment Question

Rather than asking simply whether therapy is “worth the time,” consider these alternative frames that often provide clearer perspective:

“What would need to change to make this hour worthwhile?” Identifying specific outcomes that would justify the time investment helps clarify whether therapy aligns with your priorities and values.

“What’s the cost of continuing without support?” Honestly assessing the impact of current challenges on your life, relationships, and functioning provides context for whether intervention merits the time required.

“Is this the best use of one hour for my overall wellbeing?” Comparing therapy not just to other responsibilities but to how you currently spend discretionary time creates realistic rather than idealized comparisons.

“What message does making or not making this time send myself?” The decision to allocate time for your wellbeing contains implicit messages about your value and worth of care that extend beyond the practical calculation.

“How does this investment align with my core values?” Connecting time allocation to your fundamental values—whether those center on health, relationships, growth, or other priorities—often clarifies whether therapy represents aligned use of limited time.

These frames help transform the time question from a simple cost-benefit analysis to a more nuanced consideration of priorities, values, and long-term wellbeing.

Practical Strategies for Finding the Hour

If you’ve decided therapy would be valuable but still struggle with practical time allocation, consider these approaches:

Conduct a time audit. Track how you actually spend time for a week, identifying lower-value activities that could be reduced or eliminated to create space for higher-value investment in your wellbeing.

Consider non-prime hours. Many therapists offer early morning, evening, or weekend appointments that might conflict less with primary work or family responsibilities.

Explore telehealth options. Virtual therapy eliminates travel time and can often be accessed from various locations, creating more flexibility in scheduling.

Look for hidden time pockets. Short lunch breaks, transition times between activities, or early morning hours sometimes contain underutilized time that could accommodate therapy with creative scheduling.

Implement clear boundaries. Rather than trying to fit therapy into already-packed schedules, explicitly communicating boundaries around therapy time to employers, family members, or others helps protect this investment.

Plan for therapy seasons. If regular ongoing therapy feels unsustainable, consider “seasons” of more intensive focus on your mental health interspersed with periods of independent maintenance.

These practical approaches help transform theoretical value into actual implementation, making space for what matters even within busy lives.

A Matter of Priority, Not Time

In the end, the question of whether therapy is “worth the time” often reveals more about our priorities than about objective time availability:

We all have the same 168 hours each week. How we allocate them reflects—explicitly or implicitly—what we value most.

The person who says “I don’t have time for therapy” while spending hours on social media or television is actually saying “I prioritize these activities over my mental health”—which might be a valid choice, but should be a conscious one rather than a default.

When we name and own these priority decisions, we create space for more aligned choices rather than feeling like victims of schedules beyond our control.

At Televero Health, we believe that making conscious choices about time allocation—whether that includes therapy or not—supports greater agency and intentionality in how life unfolds.

So we return to our opening question: What’s one hour a week worth to you? What might become possible if you dedicated this small fraction of your time to understanding yourself more deeply, addressing what’s difficult, and growing toward what matters most?

The answer will be different for everyone. But we believe that for many people, this single hour represents one of the highest-value investments available—an investment in yourself that creates ripple effects through every other aspect of your life and relationships.

Ready to invest one hour a week in your wellbeing? Reach out to Televero Health today.