I AM HEALING

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35

It’s okay for me to feel sad sometimes.

I have to start this week by saying it’s not lost on me the role God plays in my life as master author and illustrator. Some of my readers who know me know I am a meticulous planner (it really helps with my anxiety to be prepared so I’m not in a state of constant worry) and part of that means thinking about things months in advance. It was the end of 2021 when I sat down and chose which emotions would get focus in which months… which means it was in November or December that I decided May would be dedicated to the emotion of Sadness. I didn’t know in November or December that most of April and bleeding into May I would be dealing with an immense amount of Sadness. So when I sat down to write, and saw Sadness would be with me for the next five weeks… it wasn’t lost on me that God placed me here on purpose.

So what does that mean for you all? It means that we will be healing together and walking through time with Sadness a little while longer. Sadness has a bad rep, you know. Think about the movie Inside Out (y’all know it’s my favorite one to reference) and how Joy thought Sadness ruined everything. She fought so hard to keep Sadness away it almost wrecked the poor girl. It wasn’t until Sadness had her moment, a real respected moment, to sit at the helm that everything started to feel ok again. And even Jesus took the time to not only feel sadness but to openly weep when the emotion was present. If Jesus can make room for Sadness, so can you. So let’s affirm, and learn to heal through feeling sad.

Affirmation 1: Your feelings are valid. I don’t think I can say this one enough, but especially when it comes to Sadness. It is okay to feel sad sometimes. It is okay to embrace the feeling that is staring you in the face begging for space. There is no such thing as an invalid feeling. You feel what you feel, and learn to control the response to it. But always give yourself room to feel.

Affirmation 2: Being sad doesn’t mean you’re depressed. While sadness is a symptom of the mood disorder, it is NOT the deciding entity. There are other factors to consider, the main thing being how your day to day life impacted by your mood. If you have questions about your level of sadness and how it’s impacting your daily lifestyle, seek a professional for clarity and support. Don’t self diagnose.

Affirmation 3: Where there is Sadness, there is room for healing. The body experiences pain as a way to say something needs to be fixed. Sadness does the same thing for our emotions. If you’re sad, that means there is something you need to tend to. Explore what is causing sadness in your life to determine how you can heal from it. If someone you love had died, time will help. Remembering the good times will help. But if you’re sad every time you think about going to work… time might not be enough to heal that wound. Listen to your body, listen to your emotions. Heal

Healing may not stop the sadness, but it eases the pain.

All in all, I hope you’ll bear with me the rest of this month because it’s going to be a roller coaster. April has taken from me, and not just this year. So the flood of emotions that come with remembering pain and experiencing sadness can whip through you something fierce. But I think it’s a journey we can take together and learn so much about ourselves along the way. I love you, I’m rooting for you, and as always, keep conquering daily.