In my previous article, I talked a lot about my struggles with depression and anxiety and how I learned to overcome that. I praised how my cloudy days had been replaced by sunny days.

But what I would like to highlight in this article is the following:

Some days, the clouds still roll in and block my sunshine.

There seems to be this misconception--no, rather, the stigma surrounding mental illness. That being sad is a bad thing, that we shouldn't feel sad--we aren't allowed to feel sad.

I call B.S. on that.

It is absolutely impossible to feel 100% happy all the time. Sure, it'd be great, but it's just not realistic. Call me a cynic, but the only way to be 100% happy all the time is to fake it. To pretend.

And pretending to be happy all the time is what brought on my depression.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's OK to allow yourself to feel all of your feelings. To let them pour over you like rain on your cloudy days. To express the darkness that is overcoming the light inside of you. To say to the world, "I'm not OK."

Expressing your feelings will help you immensely in the future. Letting the negativity build up inside you is like holding back the waves of the Pacific with a half-assed made damn; it'll hold for a while, but eventually, you'll burst.

I know it's scary to feel things that society deems "abnormal" and "non-normative," but why let society pull you deeper into the hole you are already digging for yourself?

Let them and tell society the truth: no one is always happy. And that's OK.

But, keep in mind one last line from my article:

But, they say even on the cloudy days, the sun never ceases to shine.

You will have days mixed with clouds and sun and unwanted precipitation. No matter the weather, remember that feeling a wide-length of emotions is more than OK.