This is not an original idea, rather one shared by a friend a while ago that I took to heart.
Everyone has their life struggles: weights on their shoulders, skeletons in their closets, locked away secrets of the past. These take a toll on us every day. Some days less so than others, but they’re always there because they are what made us who we have become.
Often times though, you may hear people say or you may yourself think that the pain caused by these secrets you keep hidden behind your outside face is not that bad. You should just get over it. So many other people have it so much worse. It could always be worse, it could have been worse, and you should be grateful for what you have. While this is partially true, it doesn’t in any way lessen what you are feeling. It doesn’t make what you experienced any less real or any more acceptable. It doesn’t mean that whatever it is that hurt you and left you forever marked is just suddenly “okay” because “it could have been worse.”
I was fortunate enough to find a community to help me acknowledge my pains, accept them, and deal with them when they reared their ugly heads. This community was a group of Resident Advisors at college. Some may roll their eyes at this. Oh the RA, here to save the day. Psh. But honestly, while we RA’s may be an annoyance most of the time, we really do change lives. And in reality, the majority of lives changed may be of the RA’s themselves.
Time has passed however. I graduated and my RA community disbursed across the world and I am realizing just how much this community did for me. I knew what I had learned and the training I received was invaluable, but I didn’t realize just how important being a part of the community had been for me as well on a personal level. Hindsight is 20/20 and I’m seeing just how imperative it is to have a support for those times when you’re “not okay”.
So don’t be ashamed when the weight of your world becomes too heavy for your shoulders to bear. It’s okay to not be okay all the time. The important part is to find someone or some community who understands this and is there to help you hold the weight so you can stand back up again, square your shoulders, then carry on unashamedly with being who you are: burdens and all.
The Methods, Madness, and Meanderings of Maddie's Mind 
It sure is OK to not be OK. So many times when we head on that downward spiral we question how we got there and berate ourselves for letting it get to that point when in reality, sometimes the best thing to do is to accept that we are feeling that way, for whatever reason. It’s only when I accept that its happening that I’m able to get myself back up.