I have said this ok a lot lately and I want you to all to know and really think about that. It is OK to not be OK!
Right now we are living in very hard, scary, sad, frustrating, emotional time. I think it is so important to really think about how you are feeling and really let yourself feel what you are feeling.
I am not talking about wallowing in it or being consumed. But feel it for the moment.
On any given day I can feel any of these things:
- scared
- sad
- lonely
- mad…really mad
- exhausted
- trapped
- hungry
- full of energy
- full of tears
- tired of it all
- forgetting what normal felt like
- doubting things will ever be normal again
- worried
- restless
- confused
- sick
- trapped
- frustrated
Maybe you are like me, you are homeschooling for the first time EVER! Plus working full time from home. Your spouse is an essential worker and is on the front line and outside the home each day. The kids are hating having me as a teacher and making me feel like I need to go back to 3rd grade. Work is super stressful. Trying to decide if it is safe for us to go to the store or just walk the trails. Do we need masks? The weight of the world is on my shoulders. It’s a lot!
This may not be YOUR situation. You may be a single mom or dad trying to juggle it all. Maybe you have lost your job and you feel lost and very scared right now trying to make ends meet. You and your spouse may both be working from home and you are having a lot of togetherness for the first time ever! Maybe you are a teacher and you are having to learn a new way to do your job. Maybe you are a medical professional and giving your work your all everyday while holding back or wiping back the tears. Maybe you are working on the front line and staying in a hotel so you do not risk spreading the virus to your precious family.
We are all in a very unique situation right now. And we are all filled with unique emotions right now. And I do not have the answers. But I hope that the following will help encourage you just a little bit today!
We cannot be consumed and we cannot let it spin out of control. Whether you have a diagnosed mental illness or this situation has put you in this place. You do not have to stay stuck but you CAN feel your thoughts.
First an important note for those with a diagnosed mental illness, please reach out to your doctor immediately when you feel the spiral and express concerns and discuss medications and treatments to help! Look up counseling and find virtual and online resources. Do NOT wait.
I have adapted a rule for myself where I let myself feel what I am feeling. Really feel it. Cry. Get mad. Sit alone. But only for a short time. That time will depend on the situation. If it is was a bad day maybe I need an hour to cry in the bathtub. If it was a terrible week maybe I need a Saturday to just be mad and get physical by doing a project. (Last weekend I tore up the vinyl floor in our master bathroom just because I hated it and needed to do something!) 🙂
But here is the thing. It cannot consume you. So once you feel it, really feel it then you have to give it to God!
God wants you to talk to him! He wants you to GIVE IT TO HIM!
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6-7
Think about all the times Jesus prayed and gave his thoughts to his Father. Even if the outcome will not change God wants you to give your heart to him and cast all your anxieties on him. Give it to him! You will feel so much lighter!
Do not take on the worries and burdens of others! You can only handle so much! Focus on you and your family and YOUR mind! If you fall apart your family will too.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12: 2
You know that saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”? Well it is true! God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us through the hard times. He doesn’t send the evil but he does allow it as we have seen in the bible. He gives us the strength, peace, and hope we need to withstand ANY battle! This includes physical AND mental!
Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5 1-5
So friends, you’ve got this! IT IS OK TO NOT BE OK! Feel all the things! Let yourself be mad, mourn, lonely, grieve, feel sorry for yourself, whatever you need to do. Then GIVE IT TO GOD! Trust me, more is ahead and if you let it keep building up you will fall down the deep pit of depression and self destruction. You will be hurting yourself and others. Your relationships will suffer. Your job will suffer. Your health will suffer.
You are important. You are loved. You are OK! So feel all the feels today! Let it out in a healthy way. And then do the most important thing and give it to God. He wants and needs you to. Then you will be renewed and ready for whatever the next hurdle is to come!
Much love friends! Stay safe! Stay healthy!
