I think one of my biggest faults is that I feel the constant need to be shiny.

I feel the need to be a ray of sunshine, emanating positivity at all times. Things can be not-so-good, but not bad. I can have less-than-great feelings, but only as a means to finding the good. Today was crap, but no worries! Tomorrow will be better! Being a mom can be so hard, but man am I #blessed to have my girl in the first place. Bad feelings must be qualified.

As the doldrums have recently reappeared in my life, it felt like an appropriate time to listen again to Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed. And you know what Glennon says about feelings?

Feelings are for feeling.

Good, bad, ugly, pretty, positive, negative. I can (should!) be happy, angry, bored, sad, excited, upset, annoyed, anxious. And I don’t need to qualify anything. I don’t need to explain away my pain or downplay my joy. Life should be painful. And joyous. And everything in between.

So the next time I feel guilty for writing something about how hard life can be, and I think, “Maybe I shouldn’t post this,” or “How can I put a positive spin on this?” I will instead remind myself that feelings are for feeling. And life is for feeling all of them, whether they are shiny or not.