Sharing an Embarrassing Photo So You Know You’re Not Alone

Since we talked about it so much this morning, here's me being honest about the cruddy day I had yesterday....it's not pretty.

If you've ever experienced heartache or loss or any other emotionally draining event, you know it's tough.  It messes with every facet of your life for a while and makes your brain do and think incredibly weird (and stupid) things. (My friend Deborah always says "Don't believe everything you think"...she's my spirit animal.)

I was blessed with Lilly-white Irish/Swedish skin and my eyes do NOT rebound well from a good hard cry.  And when you feel awful, you tend to look not-so-awesome either.

Crazy hair, "sad plaid", and puffy eyes with giant bags courtesy of #CryFest2016 :

Sure, this pic was taken at 4:45am...but they haven't much improved at 10:10am as I type.  It's just a hazard of being a "feeling" person with thin eye skin (and thank you to those of you who suggested using Preparation H to reduce the puffiness. But I've been called "buttface" too many times in my life. I'll just let nature take its course).

Whether it's a break up, a death, a separation, or anything else that affects you emotionally (there were lots of videos of Hillary supporters weeping yesterday), it bleeds into the rest of your life.  A friend wrote me:

What feels intuitive after a breakup, might not be the right thing to do. That's a very challenging and painful lesson to learn. In the beginning, you are driven by the pain and the loss only. Every decision you make, every action you take is determined by these emotions. While you think that you are doing something to restore things as they were - trying to be happy again - you are really digging yourself even deeper into this quicksand.  Making yourself even more miserable.

It's simple, but it's not easy -- you're supposed to put on a brave face and try not to break down when someone asks "what's wrong"?  As Abby Lee Miller says, "Save your tears for the pillow."  Since it's not always possible to bring an entire bedding set to work, that can be pretty tough.

If you've gone through it, I'm with you.  And you know, if some time has passed, it DOES get better.  It seems like it never will...but it does.  You just have to try not to make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion. Ride the wave.

And your eyes eventually return to their original state.  Hopefully sometime before like...Labor day. ;)