It’s Blogapalooza tonight at ChicagoNow! Bloggers are given the challenge to write a blog post in one hour. The topic given to us tonight is “Write about something you find beautiful that you feel others may not understand.” Hmm. Here is my take….
Since I’ve heard the phrase “There’s beauty in the breakdown,” I’ve loved it. They are lyrics from a song called Let Go, by Frou Frou. I first heard the song back in 2003 or 2004 as a wee lass of 30 something….
And now, more than a decade later, I know, for sure, there is definitely something beautiful about moments in our lives when we fall apart, have to deal with the messy, the yuk, the uncertainty, the breakdown. The beauty lies in the truth of these moments. The humanness of these moments and what happens on the other side.
What could be beautiful about a breakdown, our low points, the mess? None of us like to feel sad or bad or uneasy. We tend to like to either distract ourselves from feeling badly with anything and everything – food, alcohol, drugs, sex, binge tv, gossip, judgement…The list goes on. We like to just keep on moving and not allow ourselves to feel like shit.
I get it. I’ve done it. I still do it every now and then. But the breakdown? The mess? When you really take a moment and let yourself feel the yuk? OH my goodness it sucks. HA, did you think I’d say that? Probably not. But hear me out for a sentence or three.
When we stop and allow ourselves to sit in our bad feelings, we are most authentic. We are not avoiding, we are not passing through, we are allowing uncertainty and yuk into our lives. By sitting and really just being with these feelings, we learn to be with all our feelings – the good ones too!
If we cannot fully feel the lows, we can never fully feel our highs!
I am not suggesting dwelling in the breakdown. I do not recommend wallowing or rumination – for too long. We need to feel our fear or jealousy or anger – or all three. We cannot live in them, however. That becomes unproductive and keeps us stagnant. If we acknowledge the breakdowns and are aware enough to be able to say – “Shit I feel like shit,” and just sit with it – the feeling will be what it will be. It won’t be any more or any less.
And we will move ahead. Into more experiences and feelings. And once we have the breakdown and learn to sit with it for a bit, we will learn that we CAN come out of it. We CAN come out on the other side – knowing ourselves a little better. Knowing our TRUE selves a little better. And using that breakdown as an example that all will be well the NEXT time one comes along.
That is the beauty in the breakdown. The truth and the afterglow.
Thanks for reading. Click here to read all the blog posts from this month’s Blogapalooza!
Never miss a You Know Neen post! Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
You can also find me on Facebook or Twitter if that’s your thing!
You Know Neen 