Sometimes life gets heavy. Deadlines pile up, to-do lists overflow, and it feels like you’re treading water. (This rings especially true around the holidays, doesn’t it?) When this happens, there’s a tendency to push through, suppress emotions, and plaster on a smile. But what if giving yourself permission to feel could actually help you move forward?
In the words of Ted Lasso, “Now is the time to be sad. And the good news is, we get to be sad together.” That simple acknowledgment — that stress, sadness, or frustration is real — can be transformative. Pretending these feelings don’t exist does us no favors.
One of my clients was overwhelmed, juggling countless tasks and dropping balls left and right. Together, we worked on reframing — not the work itself, but the emotional response to it. By admitting, “Yes, I’m stressed,” he freed himself from the internal battle of pretending everything was fine.
But here’s the key: feeling doesn’t mean wallowing. (Though no one would fault you for sharing a little pink box of shortbread biscuits with a friend while you muster up the courage to press on.) Feeling means acknowledging – not judging, but honoring.
Once you’ve honored the emotion, you can decide how to move forward. That’s where the goldfish mentality comes in: acknowledge the stress, then let it go (cheers, Rebecca).
Emotions aren’t obstacles; they’re signals. By allowing space to feel them, you create clarity. And from that clarity, you give yourself permission to not judge yourself and to let them pass through you without resistance, paving the way for clarity in the next steps.
Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash
