So we’ve been a little quiet on the blog here and I’m sorry about that. I could make up something amazing, but the fact is that I’ve simply been overwhelmed. I realize that’s a word that gets thrown around a lot. And worse yet, gets overly justified a lot – we feel the need to weirdly and competitively list everything that’s overwhelming us to prove to people just how crazy things are for us. Perhaps we’ll address that in a future blog, but in the meantime, I’m going to just skip that part and not give you the laundry list of things that have been going on. Maybe it would sound overwhelming to you and maybe it wouldn’t. It doesn’t really matter because everything has been overwhelming to me and I’m the one who had to deal with it, so overwhelming it is.
And dealing with feeling overwhelmed has looked very different, depending on the stage of life I’m in. Some of my coping mechanisms are more healthy than others, but over the years I’ve learned to cut myself some slack. For better or worse, nothing is forever, and while I logically know that, it doesn’t keep it from sucking while I’m in the middle of whatever is going on. And while my coping mechanisms have ebbed and flowed over the years, one thing has remained the same – my straight up ugly cry.
The way my mom tells it, as a small child, I used to get so tired and worn out that I was just start to sob. Even as a baby, I would be so exhausted that there was no other way to get everything out and I would just cry and cry. Things haven’t changed that much. I’m a grown-ass woman (with the tote bag to prove it!) and whenever I’m this overwhelmed and this exhausted, it usually leads to one complete meltdown where everything comes out my eyeballs (and my nose, because let’s be honest about the ugly cry). And while it’s awful while it’s happening and I feel so full of despair, it also usually helps. Also not surprising, these sobs usually come at night, when I’m exceptionally tired. So the combination of getting everything out and then some sleep is typically enough to re-energize me for the next day to keep pushing forward.
I share this because I think there’s comfort in knowing we’re not alone. Most of the time we don’t see the big ugly cry from people and we convince ourselves that everyone is adulting much better than we are. And sure – sometimes, some of them are. But most of the time, most of us are dealing with our own version of the big ugly cry and we’re not at all alone in that. So while we logically know things will get better – or at the very least seem better in the morning – sob on my friends. I’ll be right there with you and we’ll all feel better after a good cry.
About Catherine
Catherine’s preferred tissue of choice for the big ugly cry is Puffs Ultra Strong. She is the founder of Good for Her Soul and yes, she is available for a Puffs endorsement deal. In the meantime, you can reach her here.
