Now that you are reading this, I assume you are a human being living on planet Earth, and every day you encounter at least one thing that makes you sad and wish that bad thing would just fade away. 

We are always in an endless fight with our emotions. We try so desperately to make them positive and to feel satisfied, but what if all the things that made us or are making us sad never existed? Would life still look the same? 

Take a minute to pause, and think about the dream-land that’s empty of all problems. How long would you like to stay there? Let me guess. Maybe one day or two? Then what? You would start vomiting the joy you were surrounded by. 

As much as we might hate to admit that, we need to feel negative emotions in our lives to a certain degree. 

As Laurell K. Hamilton says, “They say there is no light without dark, no good without evil, no male without female, no right without wrong. That nothing can exist if its direct opposite does not also exist.”  

I will not tell you how to overcome sadness. Instead, I will tell you how to live it. 

First: Get a tissue box because you will cry until you look at the mirror and you see a potato instead of your face. 

Second: Honor yourself for the ability to feel. You do not want to live in this world numb. Feel the pain in your whole body and watch how it shapes you. 

Third: Listen to your body and what it is trying to tell you through these feelings. It’s not about overcoming the feelings; it’s about knowing why they are occurring within you.  

Fourth: Go out there and be sad with someone. 

We all complain about loneliness, but are we really lonely, or do we hide ourselves from each other? We all want to feel needed, and that’s basically why we do everything in our lives—from waking up in the morning each day to choosing a career path for ourselves. 

You need people today and they will need you tomorrow. This is how life’s wheel keeps moving forward. So, it’s normal to breathe, smile, and be sad.