Feel the Pain, Do the Work

(This blog post is from a weekly email I send out every Tuesday! Sign up to receive these emails here!)

I want to share something with you that I don’t talk about often (and not for any other reason than I just don’t), but I was depressed this past weekend.

And many times before, this wasn’t the first time.

But I just remember asking myself over and over again “Why am I feeling like this? Why am I so sad? Why do I not care about…anything?”

It must be burn out.
It must be that I don’t love myself.
It must be because I’ve been busy.
It must be because I’m not grateful.

I kept trying to name and pinpoint the underlying meaning behind this checked out feeling.

At times, I felt like I was spiraling. The more I questioned why I was feeling this, the worse the feeling got.

So I started to do the opposite.

I leaned into it.

Instead of asking why, why, why, I questioned nothing. I just felt it.

And thankfully, I had work to do over the weekend and I had deadlines to meet so that meant depressed or not, I had responsibilities to myself and others that needed to be taken care of.

I didn’t feel great. But I kept moving.

Action on one positive thing gave me momentum to go to the next positive thing.

Why?

Science. But in the moment, I didn’t even question it. I just did it.

And did I drink as much water as I wanted to? Probably not. Did I eat the best? Nope. Did I exercise like everybody says to do when you’re depressed? Nope.

Although I did start to do those things as I felt I was coming out of feeling depression and I felt even better because of incorporating them into my day.

However, the better feeling doesn’t have to start with exercise or water or good food as so many people preach. Those help, yes.

All it needs to start is one positive decision.

No questioning “why” you feel a certain way – just accept that fact and make one positive decision.

Acceptance + Action = Momentum

We are going to have low times and high times and just regular times, but let yourself have those times. Let your emotions flow and be what they may.

I am very grateful for the low times, truly. Each and every time, I come out better on the other side.

I thought I’d leave you with a quote today.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Thank you for reading. ♥️

Shay

I just put out a new YouTube video where I talk about “How to Use Gratitude On the Go” on the Level Up! With Shay podcast! I’d love for you to check it out! You can watch it here. Listen to the podcast episode here. Or read it here.

Please share with anyone who you think would get value from this. I’d love your help to spread the message.

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