Get ok with being uncomfortable

Recently this incredible woman said something so simple, but honestly, life changing for me, and I haven't been able to let go of it ever since. I will totally bugger up what she said now...since it was a whole 6 days ago...

"We would never apologize for laughing. Why do we apologize for crying?" Um...what?! Simple, but so powerful! If I told you an appropriate, albeit hilarious joke, and you laughed, would you ever dream of apologizing? Nope. If I gave you an incredibly sad piece of news and you cried in response, would you apologize? Likely.

We are so programmed to be concerned about other people's comfort that we actually dare to apologize for having appropriate reactions that sometimes make other people uncomfortable. We have forgotten how to successfully exist in discomfort. 

Life isn't supposed to be comfortable! Those uncomfortable moments help us learn and grow! We take more out of an uncomfortable situation than we could ever dream of taking from comfort. 

I cry. I cry when I'm really happy, really sad and definitely when I'm really overwhelmed. Do those cries look and sound different? Absolutely, but do any of them require an apology? Nope. People actually do deep, heavy, therapeutic work to be able to cry. It's HEALTHY. It's NATURAL. Suppressing big feelings only hurts us, yet we feel inclined to apologize because sometimes people are uncomfortable. How silly. I think I will start saying, "You're welcome" instead and take the awkward moment to the next level. Maybe it will even prompt a little laughter. Wait. Does that mean two discomforts make a comfort? I may be on to something here...

It's not worth blaming anyone or anything for how and why we got here. It's actually completely irrelevant because all that matters is how we change it going forward. We need to re-learn how to be humans. We need to accept that life isn't easy or perfect. That bad things happen, and great things happen, and appropriate reactions are ok. More than ok.

It's time to get ok with being uncomfortable!