We don’t come into this world smiling we come in crying We feel We feel every emotion Yet we are conditioned to believe happiness is our natural state and we are defective if we feel anything else I tried not to feel the knives of rejection dug too deep into my skin So I carried my emotions on my back like baggage that I would never unpack trying desperately not to let others know how heavy it was But my legs snapped I couldn’t get off of the ground and nobody noticed Because you’re invisible when you’re sad and feared when you’re angry and judged when you’re scared and crucified when you’re ill But we can’t help it we feel though they expect us not to They expect us to smile when we’re sad They expect the snow to fall in the summer They expect us to breathe while we’re drowning but we can’t do that because we feel So I shake hands with my feelings and validate their existence with a pat on the back because no one else will It’s okay to cry when you’re sad It’s okay to shiver when you’re cold and it’s okay to drown sometimes You will swim up when you’re ready It’s okay to feel We must feel to heal