"How are you?" asks a random person.

Before you respond, you feel a sudden tension in your chest. You can feel your heart physically beating, almost erupting out of your chest. Your spit feels like swallowing cement. Confusion of how you're feeling washes over you and instead of spilling your guts or responding truthfully, you say what everyone expects a person to answer with: "I'm good."

Okay, maybe it isn't as dramatic as I described, but it still feels like complete crap. Usually what comes to follow the fake response is a small feeling of dread and your thoughts running wild about everything that was wrong with you, your life, and just everything.

But then you swiftly brush your feelings to the side because in our society there is no room for you to be sad. Our society has bred us into thinking that any answer other than "good" and not being okay is unacceptable because you will be branded as an attention-seeker or you're simply weak. But you're not weak, and it is in fact okay to not be okay.

Speaking as a person who struggles with anxiety and depression, it took me a long time to realize that it's okay to not be okay. I kept my feelings to myself and bottled everything up, randomly lashing out at people, which is very unhealthy and a huge mistake. I thought if I burdened my problems or emotions on people that they would end up seeing me as whiny, annoying, and end up leaving me. So I would continuously bottle things up and act as if everything was peachy.

Society is very good at making you feel like you had to be happy all the time. If I could win an Oscar for acting, I'm pretty sure I could win one. I would have people tell me all the time, "Kennedy, you're one of the happiest people I know!"

No one can be perfectly happy all the time. Whether you're struggling with depression or dealing with some type of grief, it's absolutely more than okay to not feel okay. Everyone has their off days. Perfection is something that can never be achieved. Sometimes in order to feel better, you have to feel worse. Feelings are temporary, which is both a scary and comforting fact. It's comforting in the cliche way of "Everything gets better."

Now here's my motherly advice (I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom). Acknowledge your feelings like "HELLO THERE, I SEE YOU!" Don't feel the need to apologize for the way you're feeling because Honey Boo Boo Child, there's nothing to be sorry for. Try to avoid sinking into the funk. Once sunken it is hard to rise again (Is this a Get Out joke?). It is okay to not feel okay. You will get through this. You're strong.