It's Okay

I've been taking pretty good care of myself lately by getting some counseling sessions in, doing some horseback riding lessons, signing up for a personal trainer to kick my butt and binge watching all six seasons of Parenthood in a little over a month. But I know that sooner or later there will be something that makes me sad, and tears will come. Part of the reason I've been feeling so good lately is that when those times come I don't get mad at myself anymore.

We've come to a place in society where we don't want people to feel sad so we try to bully or "inspire" them to choose happiness instead. Happiness can definitely be a choice, and sometimes you really do just have to keep pushing on, but I think that in pushing on all the time and "choosing happiness" we have forgotten how to acknowledge, respect and process all the other, less pinteresty emotions. Those emotions are just as important, they are just as necessary and they are just as valid as happiness or joy.

Bullying people or glossing over that they don't feel good isn't getting us anywhere. Reminding a friend or a loved one that other people have it worse than them doesn't make the pain go away. I searched on Pinterest for anything that bucked the trend of "I choose happiness" but there wasn't one thing, so I made it.

Sometimes we really just need to cry. Sometimes things don't feel good and we aren't ready to feel better about it. Sometimes we wallow, and the better we are at accepting, feeling (not feeding) and allowing the emotions the space to exist, the better off we'll be. That can seems scary, sometimes it feels like looking into a black hole***, sometimes it feels plain lazy and lame... especially with these perky, "I am in charge of how I feel..." memes popping up all over the place... but I have found that the more I acknowledge and accept, the more I allow and don't fight, the easier it is to choose to be happy another day.

So if today just feels like a huge suckage and the guy (or lady) you like looked at you funny and your soup tasted like crap and someone cut you off and all you can think to do is cry, go ahead. Or even worse if your pet is sick, or something you tried really failed, or if your world really feels like it's falling apart despite your privilege of not being a starving child in China, choose tears. I don't blame you at all.

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***if it really does get too scary and you feel like facing it could be detrimental to your health or living, please, please, please reach out, there are options other than hiding/ forcing or ending. Get a helping hand to guide you through.