Feeling fantastic. Catching the feels. Feeling out-of-it. There are so many ways that you "feel", but do you ever think you are getting numb to emotions or, you just aren't letting yourself feel?

Letting yourself feel is way more difficult than it sounds. "Feeling" is human nature and it just happens when it happens, right? The truth is sometimes we shut off the ability to feel because we don't want to be judged for getting excited about something "childish" or, for crying over something that makes you seem "wimpy". I am here to tell you, you are allowed to feel the way you do. You are allowed to smile over the little things and live in the moment. You are allowed to cry those "ugly" tears when life just sucks. Give yourself permission to feel because it's what makes you human.

When life is good to you, give yourself the privilege to truly be in the moment. Smile, laugh, and dance it out. Stop thinking about every possible obstacle you might face and choose to let yourself be excited about the day. Protect yourself from all of the negativity you put in your mind. Choose not to play the "what if" game during your day. The questions like, what if it rains? What if that friend doesn't show up to lunch? What if you get into a car accident?

If you play the "what if" game you are never going to see the brighter side of things. It is okay to get excited about the little things. If it rains, dance in it. If your friend doesn't show up, enjoy some solitude, it's a beautiful day. Sometimes there are things in your life you just can't control like a car accident, but everything happens for a reason, and you can't be paranoid about something tragic that hasn't happened.

Obviously not every day is going to be peachy and sweet. There's also going to be those moments when you realize you just had a bad day. Maybe, you just said, "goodbye" to your best friend who is going to college in a different state, or you didn't get to say, "goodbye" to someone who was tragically taken from you. Maybe a customer lashed out at you for something you had no control over. Those are all challenging scenarios that you are allowed to let yourself step back and break down.

Sometimes the hardest part is, in fact, breaking down. Giving yourself permission to cry those "ugly" tears. But, the thing is those tears we call "ugly" actually offer so much beauty and healing. Plus, crying is what makes you human, so letting yourself cry is just giving yourself the ability to jump into reality again. Breaking down is the moment you allow yourself to not pretend everything's okay when it is obviously not. It is that moment when you allow yourself to believe the truth: that you are strong for dealing with that pain and suffering, rather than taking the easy way out by lying and saying you're okay, or pretending like nothing bad happened in the first place.

Please take my advice, and let yourself feel because you were blessed with the ability to have these emotions. If you cut yourself off from feeling you are going to find yourself numb and desensitized to real emotions. So, enjoy every minute of the happy times because they will help you survive the difficult times. Keep pushing through those difficult times because I promise you it will get better and you will be stronger for it.