Emotions are a natural part of life. We all have them and we all deal with them differently. Sometimes, they rule us. Other times, we bury them deep down within ourselves.

Being real with your emotions and how you REALLY feel is truly a skill that takes time to develop. My senior year of high school, I remember telling my dad not to worry about me, because I just wasn't a crier. However, once my grandpa died, I BECAME the crier. Now, crying is how I process most of my emotions (especially whenever I'm overwhelmed or stressed).

Crying doesn't make me any less of a strong woman.

Crying doesn't make you any less of a strong person, regardless of your gender.

IT IS OKAY TO CRY. You deserve to fully feel that emotion. You deserve to process it and deal with it. And if crying is how you deal with your emotions, then f*cking sob like a baby. As a human being, you are entitled to feel your feelings and process them. Feeling things is the beauty of being alive (even if it doesn't always seem so beautiful...).

There seems to be this societal notion that crying makes you weak, but I think the opposite. It means that you're strong enough to recognize when you need a good cry. That you're strong enough to deal with your emotions, no matter how challenging they may be.

Recently, I've been feeling scared of graduating college and I was scared of getting my wisdom teeth removed. However, fear is a totally normal emotion, but dealing with it makes me really uncomfortable (as with most people, probably). Letting myself actually feel scared and working through it was (and is) extremely tough, but it's vital to my growth. Self-growth is usually uncomfortable, but I'm trying to learn to embrace it. But, being a strong person doesn't mean that you don't have emotions. It just means you always overcome.