vous menez votre petite vie

06:38 Sep 26, 2018 

Question just close, also just yes for "yes" and just no for "no"!!..There's only yes or no.

09:04 Sep 21, 2018 

I apologize for the delay in responding to all your suggestions and insights! I had not checked the email notification box and so I was completely unaware that this interesting discussion was taking place. Unfortunately, no further context is available to throw light on the intended meaning of 'petite vie.' Your feedback confirms my thoughts of possible derision from the therapist which may be a reflection of possible differences in therapy practices in each of the cultures. Thank you to everyone for your valuable feedback.

07:30 Sep 20, 2018 

Since Asker has refused to provide actual context, what is meant by 'petite vie' is anyone's guess. Of course this can be interpreted in a number of ways but without context, who knows.

07:22 Sep 20, 2018 

I have to disagree with the claim that « petite vie » is per se negative or pejorative — of course, it is often used in a judgemental way, crticizing someone for having a boring, uneventful life; but it can also be used in a kindly way, as I think it could well be here, to suggest that a person may be satsified and fully-functional in the life that they have sewn up and isn't too challenging for yhrm — I've had it said to me in this exact sort of context, and it certainly didn't come across as judgemental in that case (where it was I myself who was regretting the uneventfulness of my own life!)
"You just go about getting on with your own little life, minding your own business and not interfering with other people, and if that works for you, than that's just fine!"

16:52 Sep 17, 2018 

I fail to understand why so many people are spending time on this when the Asker can't be bothered to respond to the request for context! No context = no reliable answer.

15:05 Sep 17, 2018 

I think that therapists would say that this kind of patient catastrophizes/blows things all out of proportion, that they sweat the small stuff.

14:07 Sep 17, 2018 

you live in your own little world

11:11 Sep 17, 2018 

Difficult to say without context but something like "wandering around in your little world"

02:03 Sep 17, 2018 

La petite vie literally translates as “The small life”, but it’s actually an expression in French with a bit deeper meaning. It basically means “a small life” in English (or “a petty life”), in the sense that your whole world revolves around a very small circle, small area, and your views, outlook, and goals are equally small. You just live life in a tiny comfort zone with little care (and perhaps even little knowledge) of anything outside that comfort zone. It’s not bad – it’s just small. Problems which happen to people living “a small life” may not be very big problems in the grand scheme of life — But because these mundane problems constitute “everything” that is happening to these people (owing to their life being so small), the smallest things become overblown and huge issues (ie: it could be the end of the world that the garden hose sprung a leak, that the neighbour gossiped about your daughter, that a little milk got spilled…).

Excerpt from: https://quebeccultureblog.com/2014/11/23/la-petite-vie-98/

20:43 Sep 16, 2018 

We don't know if the therapist is being condescending or not, since the asker never offered the surrounding context.

I have read hundreds of books on the theories and practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, as well as multiple case histories, and translated several of them from Spanish and French, and there seems to be a great deal of recent evidence that people who call themselves "psychotherapists" end up being anything but soothing and therapeutic and seem to be more psychologically compromised than some of their patients. I suppose that's why so many people have made fun of psychotherapists and would never deign to step inside of their offices.

18:10 Sep 16, 2018 

In the (spoken?) context, it likely means you live your daily, predictable, métro-boulot-dodo life. Not really boring, but settled.

16:45 Sep 16, 2018 

Without context, there is no way to know the actual gist.

16:25 Sep 16, 2018 

Can you share more of the dialogue that went on between these two people?

But my overall impression is that the therapist might be referring to the patient's life as "limited" or "very limited", because of a lack of money, friends, and/or certain opportunities, or self-defeating behaviors.