Life has a weird way of throwing curve balls, change ups, and fastballs. People often discredit the negative experiences in their lives, always thinking 'someone else has it worse than I do', however, these events still affect us and take an emotional toll. What matters is how you recover from these crazy events.

Pinterest, Facebook groups, Odyssey articles, all constantly preaching 'self care' and its importance- but is that enough? Bubble baths and scented candles only go so far.

In the last eight weeks, I have lost my house & all the furniture in it, been forced to move back in with my parents (with my dog and husband), moved into a new place & started over from scratch, my grades are suffering (to say the least)- and to top it off, my husband accepted a job in another state. I think it is pretty safe to say bath bombs and hot tea aren't going to get me back on track.

Life Happens

Life happens, and it never stops 'happening'. Sit down, get out a pen and paper and just write. Write how your feeling and why you feel that way. Until you can come to the conclusion of what you're feeling and why you're feeling that way, you can't do a damn thing about it. People spend way too much damn time trying to get to know other people, they don't realize they don't know jack shit about themselves.

Decompression > Depression

Take the personal day. Take the semester off. Take a damn nap. Get to know what works for you, and let those emotions out- scream, cry, laugh- do you, boo boo. Remember, no one is going to look out for you- you have to make yourself number one. In an article on The Mind Unleashed, Ryan Brown states

'It is a basic law of the universe that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form. The same law applies to our consciousness. We can suppress emotions for a very long time, and although they leave our conscious awareness, it doesn't mean they are completely gone'.

He goes on to state that this leads to emotional buildup, which eventually causes a fit of rage, depression or an uncharacteristic emotional response. The problem is that this is a vicious cycle that will eventually take over our lives, and in some cases, take our lives.

Giving up is not an option

This is the hardest part. If it weren't for the negative experiences of the last two months, I wouldn't be sitting inside the porch of my new house, listening to the rain, writing this article. Life is a series of dominos, good decisions lead to positive outcomes and vise versa. You might think the light at the end of the tunnel is a train, but I promise, it's not. Self care is deeper than just taking care of the exterior (though, this is important), it's your soul and your emotional health that matters above all. It is not easy, getting to know the true you is hard, and it's even harder trying to repair yourself while still working, going to school, or taking care of kids.

Keep your chin up, baby girl. It DOES get better, and you WILL make it through.