When your family and friends ask how you are doing…

When you’re kids ask if your allergies are bothering you again because your eyes are red from crying the night before…

When you find yourself hiding in the bathroom or bedroom…

What do you say… when you are not ok?

When you feel like somebody is sitting on your chest…

When your stomach is constantly feeling sick…

When you are breaking out in hives…

What do you say… when you are not ok?

When you are supposed to be this pulled together person…

When there are so many people looking to you to be a role model…

When you are supposed to be a leader…

What do you say…

When your outsides don’t match your insides?

When you feel like you are constantly on the edge of an anxiety attack?

When your shirt says half full, but you feel empty?

I don’t know the answer to getting past anxiety or depression because I have just begun to acknowledge those words in myself.  However, I do know that Dr. Brene Brown’s words ring true to me in, “The Gifts of Imperfection,” which I am rereading again.

“If you put shame, isolation, and secrecy in a petri dish in the dark, they will multiply and take over.  the opposite to shame, isolation, and secrecy is courage, connection, and compassion.”

This is me being courageous by putting it all out there.

This is me being connected by being honest with myself, my family, my friends, and all of you.

This is my act of self compassion by saying it is ok to admit that I am not ok.