it's okay to feel.

I lost it the other day.

Like, completely.

For over an hour, my poor roommate talked me through my issue, and just listened.

We got talking about how when things get busy and grueling, it's so much easier to just plow through than to actually let all of the emotion in.

And so there I was... letting all of that emotion out. Runny mascara and all.

And you know what? I felt SO much better after that.

We make these stupid assumptions about ourselves, like:
    nobody understands what I feel
        or if they did they wouldn't care or know how to help...
              or (here's my personal favorite) WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

...as if having issues in life was some alien concept to the human race.

This lesson has been reiterated to me over and over again this past week in various situations: everyone has problems, and many times the reason that we forget this is that we choose to suffer silently in our little orbs. We let others have their problems and we'll take ours, but it's rare that we actually reach out to each other as much as we should.

Granted, there is a time and a place to talk about problems. I am certainly not advocating that we allow our problems to become paramount in our lives, or that we let everyone know about them. What I am advocating, however, is that we allow ourselves to feel more. Feel for others, and allow ourselves to be more human by feeling emotions ourselves.

Stop downplaying exciting things in your life because you feel too bashful to celebrate! Be thrilled at the chance to accomplish, to create, to be alive! And when pain and loss creep up every once in a while- give them their brief moment too. That's how you'll appreciate all of the beauty in your life the next time it arrives- because it will.