It Isn’t Just You Who Feels Sadness
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
After my first semester of college, I came home a sad wreck. In my first semester of college, I had the lead in the fall play and was the lead for the winter play. I should have been excited and proud of my accomplishments. Instead, I learned several hard lessons between Christmas of 1981 and New Year's Day of 1982:
1. Being applauded on the college stage does not change your professors' grades.
2. You may be able to charm your way through High School, but college professors have higher expectations.
3. And most importantly, facing my sadness and fear was the smartest thing I'd do that semester.
In the article "The Wisdom of Sadness" by J.W. Bertolotti, I found a profound quote by Helen Russell, "We live in a culture where distress demands to be alleviated, and sadness is supposed to be 'solved' rather than experienced." If sadness cannot be "solved" quickly, society masks it with alcohol &/or drugs, prescribed or otherwise. What mental health professionals have been advocating for decades is facing one's feelings with patience, acceptance, and tenderness.
The key to living with our sadness occurs when we realize we are not alone. Everyone deals with sadness. Long-term healing requires acknowledgment of the issue and then facing it with intentional support and care. Many people acknowledge their sadness but fail to take the vital step of addressing it through concrete steps of healing.
Be humble enough to admit to yourself and those you love when sadness is present. Next, talk to trusted family or friends. If that doesn't address the symptoms, seek a mental health professional to guide you through managing your sadness with an eye on learning and healing. Do not forget to offer your sadness to God in prayer. Like a trusted friend, God has a good listening ear, and the Holy Spirit can help guide the right people and situations to address your struggle. Facing sadness helps us learn to confront our emotions, which makes us stronger in body, mind, and spirit.