Feeling BLUE is not shameful

Happiness is one of many emotions. One we are happy to show in public😄 Feeling blue is one we often show behind closed doors, sometimes not even showing our significant other. I believe that there is grace in getting through our trials focusing on the positive and pressing forward. Saying that I believe there is a way to support each other by openly talking about emotions that are difficult for us. By speaking honestly and openly with each other, it eliminates shame that we too often put on ourselves for being anything other than SUPER WOMAN! 👸 I believe that as we have the courage to share it frees others to let go of their shame and freely share their experiences to help themselves and others.

I have not posted for the past couple Monday’s because I was on vacation with family. I loved the Highlands of Scotland, Guernsey island was a quaint dream, and Southern Ireland was beautiful. It was a marvelous trip. I feel blessed to visit these places.

There in lies the problem. How can one be so blessed and still be BLUE? Maybe that is where the shame comes from in saying “I am having a hard day.” Sadly aren‘t we all in the same boat? We all have positives and negatives in our lives The thing is, the positive doesn’t negate the negative. We will all feel BLUE from time to time. We all have reasons we hurt. Sometimes just the simple feeling of being overwhelmed, the feeling of loneliness, being emotionally worn out, or just having an off day or hormones being wacked (you menopausal women get me😂). The BLUES to me are when there is no trauma and you know you will be okay,👌🏻but you feel BLUE.

Lets talk about what to do when we are BLUE👍🏻

So there are stages in life and different things work in different stages. For example when I had children in the home, I could do crafts and play with my children to help the BLUES go away. I obviously can't do that as an empty nester. Here are some things I have found that work for me that are outside of me refocusing on my relationship with my Savior🙏

Nature -💐get out, take no phone or music and just breathe and take in nature

Exercise- 🏃🏼‍♀️ move, push myself so that my emotions don’t have time to think and as I push myself the BLUE emotions sweat out (or sparkle as I like to say)

Work- work so physically hard at something. Building something, moving furniture and redecorating etc

Movie - 🎬sit in a movie by myself and have two hours where I can’t take care of anything. I get time to breath and when I come out of the movie I have energy to process thoughts again. This worked wonderfully for me when all my children were in school. It gave me a break

Bake-🍪🍪One of my favorites! I love the process, the smell and the joy from eating comfort food

Laugh - 😂call a friend and go be silly😂don’t talk about issues Just escape and have fun

Cry-😭 let it out! You are worn out after a hard cry, you feel better and can fall asleep after the long cry

Bath- 🛀get everyone to bed, kick out the husband(From the bath😉) light candles, turn on a relaxing music, put bubbles in and relax, then go under the water and let it out. Cry under the water Something about it is so healing

Serve others-👩‍👧 make yourself find someone in need and serve with all your heart💗 often times they give something to you in return that is exactly what you needed to lift your spirits

Share-👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 tell your spouse, a friend “I am BLUE today” that’s all. You don’t have to share why if talking about it doesn’t help. Just share so you don’t feel alone.

Journal - 📓write it down, process it. Sometimes there isn’t one thing that makes you feel BLUE you just are BLUE. That is okay.(for short periods😉) after all don’t we have days we are just HAPPY☀️ Without reason.

Create- 🎨get lost creating something artistic

Chick Flick - I have a basket with my movies in it. Chick flicks are awesome. You don't have to think and you can laugh and cry in the same movie

Music-🎼 let it blare

I am naturally a happy person, I love life and people🤷‍♀️💗 saying that I have my BLUE days and have my times I need to do something to get out of the BLUE and get into my LIGHT.

We all have BLUE days the trick is learning how to get through those days. How to make it to bed knowing the sun will come up in the morning☀️

Our culture is so quick to share what we do to have fun. Let’s share what we do when we are BLUE to bring our light back. Maybe you will have an awesome idea that I can try the next time I have a BLUE day🤞🏻 Please share at least one way you have found to turn your BLUE days into Light☀️

I can’t wait to hear your tricks for your BLUE days. Thank you for being real and vulnerable to support each other💗

I am home for the summer and will be posting on Mondays🎉

Until Monday,

Starla

Happiness is ONE of MANY emotions!😀