The freedom to feel

A different kind of Independence Day 🕊️

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and many of us will be making plans with family, meeting friends, watching fireworks, eating hot dogs... the whole nine yards. As I sit here thinking about this holiday, I keep coming back to a different kind of liberation altogether.

Lately, I've been thinking about how we're expected to go through the motions and put on a happy face when the world feels heavy. We're supposed to show up and celebrate with a smile, even when our hearts are somewhere else entirely.

As someone who feels things deeply (and yes, I've been called "too emotional" more times than I can count), I've learned that feeling is how we process life, not something to hide or rush past. It's okay not to feel 100% celebratory all the time.

There’s a song by Saint Finnikin called Overwhelm that captures this experience so beautifully. It starts in that familiar place of heaviness and then shifts toward the possibility of letting ourselves process, rather than pushing it all down. The line that hit me most:

You can't remove the pain if you refuse it, so show me how you use it.

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Emotional independence isn't about being self-sufficient or never needing support. It's about claiming the right to your full range of human experience and refusing to shrink yourself to make others comfortable.

This long weekend, I hope you find time to ask yourself:
How am I, really?

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Your feelings aren’t too much. Your depth isn’t a burden. These are the very things that make you capable of profound connection, authentic growth, and genuine joy. 🤍

So this Independence Day, corny as it might sound, I invite you to claim your right to feel everything, process it fully, and transform it into something meaningful.

Hope your 4th of July is everything you need it to be. 🇺🇸

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