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Your anger? It’s telling you where you feel powerless. Your anxiety? It’s telling you that something in your life is off balance. Your fear? It’s telling you what you care about. Your apathy? It’s telling you where you’re overextended and burnt out. Your feelings aren’t random, they are messengers. And if you want to get anywhere, you need to be able to let them speak to you, and tell you what you really need.

Have a little faith in your ability to handle whatever’s coming down the road. Believe that you have the strength and resourcefulness required to tackle whatever challenges come your way. And know that you always have the capacity to make the best of anything. Even if you didn’t want it or ask for it, even if seems scary or hard or unfair, you can make something good of any loss or hardship. You can learn from it, grow from it, help others through it, and maybe even thrive because of it. The future is unknown, but you can know this for sure: Whatever’s coming, you got this.

Instead of avoiding your pain, work through it. Instead of withholding your tears, let them flow. Instead of closing your heart, open it. Instead of expressing hate, show love. Instead of judging another, appreciate them. Instead of being uptight and serious, be playful. Instead of fearing the unknown, move into it.

There’s no such thing as a ‘bad kid’—just angry, hurt, tired, scared, confused, impulsive ones expressing their feelings and needs the only way they know how. We owe it to every single one of them to always remember that.

Don’t be afraid to start over. This time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.

‘What if I fall?’ Oh, but darling, what if you fly?

You are not your feelings. You just experience them. Anger, sadness, hate, depression, fear. This is the rain you walk in. But you don’t become the rain. You know the rain will pass. You walk on. And you remember the soft glow of the sun that will come again.

It’s okay that you don’t know how to move on. Start with something easier… like not going back.

If I waited until I had all my ducks in a row, I’d never get across the street. Sometimes you just have to gather up what you’ve got and make a run for it.

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’

When the world feels like an emotional roller coaster, steady yourself with simple rituals. Do the dishes. Fold the laundry. Water the plants. Simplicity attracts wisdom.

Whatever you’re feeling, be good to yourself. If you feel lost, be patient with yourself while you find your way. If you feel scared, be gentle with yourself while you find the strength to face your fear. If you feel hurt, be kind to yourself while you grieve and slowly heal. You can’t bully yourself into clarity, courage, or peace, and you can’t rush self-discovery or transformation. Some things simply take time, so take the pressure off and give yourself space to grow.

It can feel scary to make a big decision knowing that the future is uncertain, but we can’t panic and obsess our way to clarity. Sometimes we simply need to get out of our head and give our heart some space to find the answer.

Don’t let your fear paralyze you. The scariest paths often lead to the most exciting places.

Sometimes what you’re most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free.

Don’t let the sadness of your past and the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your present.

Breathe. You’re going to be okay. Breathe and remember that you’ve been in this place before. You’ve been this uncomfortable and anxious and scared, and you’ve survived. Breathe and know that you can survive this too. These feelings can’t break you. They’re painful and debilitating, but you can sit with them and eventually, they will pass. Maybe not immediately, but sometime soon, they are going to fade and when they do, you’ll look back at this moment and laugh for having doubted your resilience. I know it feels unbearable right now, but keep breathing, again and again. This will pass. I promise it will pass.

We are all wounded people dealing with messy emotions in a confusing, uncertain, sometimes scary world. That doesn’t give anyone the right to be mean, thoughtless, or disrespectful. But remembering this makes it a little easier to think, ‘I hope you heal from your pain’ instead of ‘I hope you hurt like you hurt me.’

You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, or anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a ‘negative person.’ It makes you human.

 

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it.