Today was a pretty ordinary day by anyone’s standards. Nothing dramatic happened. Nothing particularly exciting either.

And then I came across this image:

“It’s okay to cry when there’s too much on your mind. The clouds rain too when things get heavy.”

Strange really, because today it rained for the first time in what feels like forever.

And it made me think about how quickly we judge ourselves when we have a difficult day.

You can be doing really well.,, feeling more confident… coping better… making changes… starting to trust yourself a little more.

Then something happens.

Someone says something. And an old memory catches you off guard. You start overthinking, your confidence takes a knock. Or perhaps you simply wake up one morning and don’t feel quite like yourself.

And suddenly the questions start.

Why am I feeling like this again? I thought I was past this. Why does it feel as though I’m back where I started?

But maybe that’s the bit we get wrong.

We think progress should mean never having those days again.

We think becoming stronger should mean we no longer get upset, doubt ourselves, feel overwhelmed or occasionally want to shut the world out.

But that isn’t how life works.

I often use a simple metaphor about the sun and the clouds.

Imagine the sun is you. Your confidence. Your strength. Your humour. Your self-belief. The part of you that knows who you are, even when life gets messy.

Sometimes a dark cloud moves across it. And for a while, the sunlight disappears.

But the sun hasn’t gone anywhere… it hasn’t stopped shining. You just can’t see it for a while.

And maybe sometimes that cloud needs to rain.

Maybe there are days when you do need to cry. Days when you need to admit something hurts. Days when you need to say, “Actually, I’m not fine today.” 

But that doesn’t mean all the work you’ve done is being undone… it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. And it certainly doesn’t mean the old version of you has suddenly taken over again.

Sometimes it simply means life got a little heavy.

So perhaps instead of asking yourself, “Why am I like this again?”

Ask yourself:

What am I carrying today that has become too heavy?

You don’t necessarily have to fix it immediately. You don’t have to talk yourself out of it. And you don’t have to force yourself to feel positive.

Sometimes you just need to let it rain for a short while.

Because clouds move… weather changes…  difficult days pass.

And when the clouds begin to clear, you then realise something important.

The sun was actually there all along.

Shirley x