Yesterday I brought Gavin back to school. It was a great month with everyone back in the house. Yet reality is, it’s not where Kate and Gav need to be anymore. They need to continue to grow into their future selves elsewhere.

After dropping Gavin off, I went to grab my phone to call someone but I paused.

I went to grab food in the car to eat, but I paused again.

I went to play some music but turned the radio off.

I was sad.

And that pause showed me how rather than acknowledging my emotions, I was looking to distract myself and fill myself with other things- conversation, food, distraction.

So I sat there driving and acknowledged my sadness. I prayed about how I was sad and that I know my kids are where they need to be yet I was still sad to let them go again.

And then I did something I don’t allow myself to do often enough.

I cried. Like ugly cried and it was so therapeutic. Rather than stuffing away my emotions, I was able to process and pray through them.

And afterwards? I felt lighter. I didn’t need to dwell in the sadness, I just needed that time to release it.

I share this with you today in case any of you too don’t allow yourself to process your emotions.

I invite you to join me to…

pause. breathe. pray.

May we remember God gave us our emotions and it’s okay to have them. Instead of turning to the phone, the food, the music, or whatever your go-tos are, may we pause long enough to acknowledge our emotions. Let’s pray how we can process them in a healthy way, even if that requires an ugly cry. Let’s do this so rather than stuffing those emotions away internally and keep them with us, we release them and learn from them, as I was thankful to do yesterday.

With love and hope,
Shawn