Biting down

"Radical softness is the idea that unapologetically sharing your emotions is a political move and a way to combat the societal idea that feelings are a sign of weakness." - Lora Mathis

I had a lot of feelings today and I shared them publicly, which is not something I often (ever?) do.
But I've spent the past four years of my life fiercely committed to personal growth and somehow something shifted today and I just decided to pull the full George Costanza- to do the exact opposite of what I've been doing- to feel it all fully and say everything a lot of what I wanted to say- publicly, and privately, to a person that I wanted to say things to.
It helped.


Lifehack: After all this time, the secret to dealing with pain is to just feel it. Stop fighting and let it in all the way and accept it and let the pain hit you in the face and accept that this is being alive.
When your heart is open all the way you feel bad things, too.
It's okay.



When I was a kid I'd go in to the orthodontist and they'd tighten my braces and I'd leave in so much pain. My whole mouth hurt and each tooth felt loose and it was absolute misery. Often I couldn't stop myself from biting down, hard, and feeling the full force of the physical pain. Feeling all that pain at once was almost relief.

Not denying it now, not forcing it away or drinking it away or joking it away or otherwise finding some way to run away from this pain now is also almost a relief.