There is only one thing I know how to do when life seems to suck.
It’s to FEEL IT.
In my coach training program, one of the leaders once told us, “Feelings are like farts.” You can hold them in, but it’s not like they go away. They build up and in doing so, cause an underlying discomfort that can last for hours or even days. But if you just let yourself actually feel them, they might “stink” for a little while, but it passes relatively quickly and you’re better for it.
So today’s self-care invitation is to feel your feelings, whatever they are. To honor and love yourself enough to honor your experience, however it feels.
If it’s delight, great, FEEL THAT.
If it’s sorrow, great, FEEL THAT.
Practice allowing yourself to have the experience you’re having, without judging it or thinking it shouldn’t be. That’s irrelevant because it’s here now.
Life sucks sometimes. In my experience, if you can become ok with that, and expand your ability to be with it all, it will suck way less.
Oh, the irony.
So today, practice being with it. Breathe through it. There may even be some gold in what it’s here to show you.
A special note: When we are willing to feel the “bad” stuff, we have more capacity to feel the “good” stuff, too. Think of what a heart beat looks like on a monitor. Up, down, squiggle, up, down, squiggle. To be alive includes both the ups and the downs (and the squiggles). Often we consciously or subconsciously try to suppress or avoid our uncomfortable feelings, to distract ourselves from them or to suck it up and move on. Sometimes we even try not to get too excited because we know it won’t last. But to flat line is not living, yo.
REMINDER:
Uncomfortable = Outside our comfort zone
Outside our comfort zone = Where possibility lives
P.s. If your feelings bring up something you need more support in dealing, here is a local resource guide I helped develop when I worked with teens and families in crisis.