But then something happens....

**Mild language warning**

Has this ever happened to you? Where you're good for a while and you're smiling more...talking and laughing more...going out with your friends...eating and sleeping normally too...and then all of a sudden...SWITCH...and you're suddenly feeling like you're gasping for air and screaming for help?

Ever gone to bed feeling okay...maybe even good...but you awake with weight of the world on your shoulders? What the heck happened over night? You were sleeping right? So what could have possibly happened? 

And it's not like anything has changed in your life that you can pinpoint and use to explain this feeling either. I think that is the most frustrating part of this. We want to understand...we need to know why this happened...to be able to point to something other than ourselves as the cause.

Have you ever felt like this? Ever been left in the darkness of your mind wondering what the hell just happened? Me too. 

It can leave us feeling lost, scared, alone and wondering what the hell is wrong with me.

Let me tell you here and now...THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU! not one damn thing! You are NOT  crazy...but you are human.

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I think sometimes when this happens, we've been triggered...somewhere...somehow and the switch was flipped...maybe it was a negative thought you played with too long and you're having a hard time shaking it...or maybe someone said something that struck you deep and it hurt more than you realize...a sappy T.V. commercial or a sad song on the radio...it could be any number of things that flipped the switch in you. 

When the switch is flipped...what do you? Like the phrase...we go through a period of wondering what is wrong with us...you wonder what's wrong with me...why am I always feeling like this...why am I the only one seeming to struggle? You wonder don't you? I'm guilty too at times.

But there is nothing wrong with you or with me. I think everyone at one point thinks and feels this way. The difference is that some people are able to think the thought once and shake it off and then there are others who dance with these thoughts and entertain them far longer than they deserve to be entertained. 

I think what it means is that we are the emotional ones...the people who feel things deeply and there is nothing wrong with that! What it also means is that we are "more"...we laugh louder, we cry harder, we feel deeply, and we take things hard sometimes...even ourselves...we're just MORE! we love more, we give more and at times...we need more. 

So when you're feeling like this what can you do?

• remember there is nothing wrong with you!...at all!...nothing! 
• nurture, soothe and care for your needs...especially your emotional and mental needs right now
• remind yourself of all the good, wonderful and amazing ways you are you
• write your feelings down in a journal
• talk about how you're feeling with someone you trust
• remind yourself that it's okay to feel "more" and that you're only human
• be patient with yourself...this time will pass and soon you will be smiling more..doing more...sleeping and eating more again...this time too shall pass
• DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP verbally, physically, emotionally, or mentally... JUST DON'T!...talk with care, love, encouragement and compassion with and for yourself

And why should you do this?...because you deserve it! you're worth it! and if you don't take care of yourself when you're feeling like this, you may find yourself deeper in a depression that will be even harder to break. You know it's true....these feelings when left unchecked shakes your confidence and self-esteem and the longer you entertain these thoughts and feelings, the harder it will be for you to see all the good of who you are and there is so much for you to see there instead!

You are not crazy and there is nothing wrong with you either! you're perfectly imperfect..perfectly human...
perfectly YOU!

please...take good care of you?


Picture taken from "Bruised But Not Broken" (FB page)