A few weeks ago, I sat down at two in the morning to write a deeply personal article. Since it was a topic incredibly close to my heart, my heart smiled at seeing how many people enjoyed it and reached out with similar stories – taking from it the exact message I'd hoped to convey: that you are vastly more than your experiences. With that, though, came quite a bit of the very opposite, including one particular text message that said my article offended those who were “mature enough to deal in silence".

Despite that text message being one of the kinder ones that I received, I had to take a few steps back when I read through it.

Mature enough to deal in silence.

It broke my heart to read that. It broke my heart to realize how independent we all have become and that having our heart and souls be independent is now, to us, maturity. It broke my heart to relate it back to my previous article and to see that beneath it all, I didn’t reach out to the people around me because through the depression, through the low self-esteem, through the late-night tears, through the lunches I spent alone, through the anxiety, frustration, anger and utter exhaustion that came from everything that happened during those four years, my thoughts were, “I’ve got this. I can do this. I can get through this.” I, I, I, I, I.

And it was that "I" who nearly kept me from seeing the glories of the next day.

You see, we weren’t built for "I." We weren’t built for “I can do this by myself.”

"I" keeps us from relationships, from laughter, from love, from a full life.

"I" keeps us alone.

Yet, somewhere in the mess of it all, we’ve begun to idolize "I" while unknowingly, "I" sucks our life dry. Walking alone, trying to tackle the all the ups and downs that are life alone will do exactly that: keep us from a wholesome life, and thinking it’s maturity will only make life that much harder. There isn’t anything mature about suffering in silence, as though a broken heart or a broken spirit can easily be mended. There isn’t anything mature about carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, about holding it all in – just waiting for the day that it all comes crashing down. We weren’t made to hold it all in. We weren’t made to be dams. We were not made to do it all on our own, to wait for the breaking point. We were made to be rivers.

We were made to be bubbling, giggling streams of life and love and passion. We were made to dance over the rocks that get thrown into life, to move quickly when it’s time to move quickly and to slow down the pace of life when it’s time to slow down. We were made to live a refreshing life that brings sheer happiness, accepting of hands reaching in to take part. We were made to pour into the lives of others wholeheartedly and to let others pour into us.

It isn’t easy admitting the burden is just too much for one person to carry by themselves. It is even harder handing a portion of it over to someone else. But being free – free-moving and free in spirit – is such a reward to finally opening up and letting your soul overflow.