It’s Okay to be Okay

I’ve been noticing a phenomenon on Social Media and at work lately: people volunteering that they aren’t doing well.  They’re stressed, burnt out, what have you – and speaking up about it.

We humans are wired to fit in.  One way we tend to do that is to go along with the prevailing narrative.  Someone asks us how we’re doing, and we volunteer that we’re stressed because that’s what others are saying. 

I love that we are making “it’s okay to not be okay” an acceptable message these days.  In fact, I used it a couple months ago at the start of a meeting to let my team know I wasn’t able to facilitate that day.

Yet the social renegade that I am, I want to offer another perspective:

It’s also okay to be okay.

It’s okay to tell the world you’re doing great, even if everyone else is having a tough time.  You may not fit in with the crowd, but you offer something different: a glimmer of hope that their life can also be great.

I’m not saying everything has to be cupcakes and rainbows all the time.  I’ve had some pretty tough moments this past few months, between losing my father-in-law and going through a medical scare with one of my children.  Those moments have taken me to some dark, emotional places.

But by going into those places, rather than fearing them and stuffing them down, I released the heaviness that those moments carried.  I have come out the other side lighter, generally happier, and more free.

And that’s possible for everyone.

Underneath the heaviness we all carry is a natural feeling of peace. 

I’ll say that a different way: our natural state (all of us, not a select few) is peace.

We don’t have to achieve anything to feel it. 

We don’t have to vote someone in office to feel it.

We just have to release the heavy layers that separates us from that feeling, and know how to tap in.

That is what I’ve done in my life.  That’s what took me from apathetic, numb, and feeing like I had a heart of stone, to feeling peace and joy more of the time.

And that’s how I help my clients.  I help them peel off the layers of heaviness that are not them and tap into their inner peace.

Because peace, after all, is right there waiting for all of us.

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