Hi Confuzzled
Love your name. Welcome to the forum!
I can really relate to everything you said.
But I would just add, that even when I go in "knowing" what I want to talk about...for example, if I'm organized enough to bring notes that I wrote down earlier in the week when all the ideas were coming to me...very often we STILL end up talking about something totally different. My T is very psychodynamic and relational, so she really likes to find out how I'm feeling "right then". And even though it very often starts out not looking anything like what I "thought" I wanted to talk about, in the end, I usually end up feeling like we really did get to the heart of that (or sometimes, another) matter...even though, like you said, I have no idea how we got there...and it usually feels "good" that we did that, although sometimes it is confusing...or maybe "surprising" is a better word.
I think this is what they mean when they say that the therapy journey is not linear.
It is good to meet you, Confuzzled! I look forward to getting to know you.
SG