Although we all want life to be about roses, it’s not the reality. Yet, we often act as if. For example, you might say “everything is good!” when you are actually having a bad day? Or maybe you do something because you think people expect it from you, but you don’t really feel like it? How often do you ignore fatigue to do something nice with friends? How often do you ignore signals, and that voice that tells you that you need to rest?

Ups and downs

Our society is organized in such a way that we all have to be successful. For example, on social media you see nothing but joyful and beautiful people. If things aren’t going that well for you, you might feel like you’re failing.

Yesterday I spoke to someone who is recovering from a burnout. She said she never experienced ups and downs before. She thought that life was just always ‘okay’. Still, she got a burnout earlier this year, completely out of the blue. In the end it turnt out that she had been pushing her boundaries for years.

Why admitting you’re not okay is important

Life is not always fun and that’s okay. However, sometimes it feels like you have to like everything. If you don’t like something, you start to complain. Not accepting that life can be less fun too. If I am sad, I will just ignore it until I can no longer ignore it.  However, ignoring signals takes a lot of energy. Rest is also important, how boring it may sound. Embracing sadness gives you space to deal with it, to process it. Hard? Absolutely! I don’t know if I will ever learn it, but I do believe that it starts with listening to your body and your mind (and of course your heart).