Sad, But True: The Power of Feeling

Sadness isn’t always loud. It doesn’t always come in waves of overwhelming grief. Sometimes, it lingers in the quiet moments—the spaces between our thoughts, in the memories we revisit, or in the way we feel the passing of time.

In this episode of The Free Advantage, I explore the subtle yet powerful presence of sadness and what it means to fully feel and process this emotion. I share my own recent experience with unexpected sadness, the quiet weight of change, and how sadness has been both a challenge and a teacher in my journey.

I’ll also guide you through a powerful reflection exercise to help you explore your own relationship with sadness and how acknowledging it—rather than fearing it—can lead to a deeper sense of self-understanding and healing.

Umbrella of Sadness

I share how the day before my birthday this last week, I was feeling a shift in my mood. I started to feel very overwhelmed by sadness and found myself crying on and off…A lot.

Even though I know there are a ton of things that could be contributing, when I took the time to really reflect and ask myself what was going on with me, I found a few things.

1. I have been missing my kiddos for something fierce lately. They feel scattered all over the U. S., and I desperately miss them.
2. I am feeling the weight of getting older, saying goodbye to another year of my life, and welcoming in another.
3. And 3, I have been experiencing a huge amount of change and growth recently.

And that is what I want to talk about...

And that is what I want to talk about. No one talks about how sadness accompanies change and growth. Even when we willingly step into a new chapter, there’s a quiet grief for the familiarity of what we leave behind. The sadness I felt wasn’t depression, nor was it all-consuming—it was more like an emotional undercurrent, always present beneath the surface. I realized that I had been standing under an umbrella of sadness without fully acknowledging it, letting it linger in the background of my life. As I reflected, I saw how often I tried to busy myself, distracting my mind instead of giving sadness the space it needed to simply exist.

Growth Isn’t Always Fun—And That’s Okay

We often associate growth with excitement and forward movement, but what about the grief that comes with it?
✔️ Saying goodbye to an old version of ourselves can feel like a loss.
✔️ Letting go of past comfort can be painful, even when we know we’re stepping into something better.
✔️ Unacknowledged sadness can linger, shaping our experiences in ways we don’t realize.

Sadness doesn’t always mean something is wrong—it can also be a sign that something is shifting, evolving, and changing.

The Three Ways We Experience Sadness

This past week, I noticed three different ways I experienced sadness:

• Pushing it down. It made me feel momentarily strong, but it left me carrying a weight I couldn’t shake.
• Hiding it. Crying alone in secret left me feeling isolated and ashamed.
• Expressing it. Sharing my sadness with my husband didn’t make the feeling disappear, but it made me feel supported, seen, and less alone.

Sometimes, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to acknowledge what we feel instead of burying it.

The Truth About Sadness

Sadness is not here to punish us—it’s here to reveal something important. The real struggle isn’t sadness itself; it’s how we’ve been conditioned to fear it. Many of us have been taught to see sadness as a sign of weakness, an inconvenience, or something to hide from others. But what if sadness is actually a sign of depth, empathy, and connection?

This past week, I experienced sadness in three distinct ways.

First, I tried pushing it down, ignoring my feelings in an attempt to feel “strong.” While this worked momentarily, I couldn’t shake the physical tension that followed—like a knot in my throat that refused to go away. Then, I hid it from others, crying alone and pretending I was fine. But that only left me feeling disconnected, as if I were lying to myself and those around me. Finally, I let someone in. I told my husband how I was feeling and allowed him to comfort me. I still didn’t love being sad, but I felt supported, less alone, and relieved.

The biggest lesson I took from this? Sharing sadness doesn’t make us a burden—it creates connection.

Practical Ways to Move Through Sadness

✔ Acknowledge It – Stop pushing it away. Recognize that sadness is trying to tell you something.
✔ Share It – Let a trusted friend, partner, or even a journal hold space for you.
✔ Express It – Cry if you need to. Write. Create. Move your body. Let the emotion flow through you.
✔ Sit with It – Instead of immediately trying to “fix” it, allow yourself to feel.
✔ Shift the Narrative – Remind yourself: Sadness is not a sign of failure; it’s a sign of depth.

Reflection Exercise: A Moment to Acknowledge Sadness

Take a deep breath in.
Take a deep breath out.

Now, ask yourself:
📌 Where in my life is sadness showing up?
📌 What emotions am I pushing down?
📌 What is my sadness trying to tell me?

Instead of running from it, sit with it for a moment. Let it be. You don’t have to fix it—acknowledge it.

Key Takeaways

🔹 Sadness often comes with change and growth—it doesn’t mean something is wrong.
🔹 Suppressing sadness only makes it heavier; acknowledging it allows us to move through it.
🔹 Connection helps—sharing sadness with someone else can bring comfort and healing.
🔹 We have the power to choose how we engage with our emotions.

Final Thoughts: The Power to Choose 

We can’t always control when sadness arises, but we do have control over how we respond to it. Instead of fearing or resisting it, we can choose to meet sadness with curiosity and self-compassion. Rather than seeing it as something to suppress, we can acknowledge it as a natural part of our emotional experience. Our emotions are signals, not sentences—they are meant to guide us, not imprison us. We are not meant to live inside them forever but rather to move through them with awareness, understanding, and care.

If you are experiencing sadness, I want you to know:

🔹 You are not broken.
🔹 You are not weak.
🔹 You are capable of moving through this.

There is strength in feeling.
There is healing in sharing.
And there is wisdom in sadness—if we are willing to listen.

Next Week: March Madness—The Things That Drive Us Mad!

Get ready for next month’s theme! We’re diving into the things that push our buttons—frustration, overwhelm, and all the things that make us mad!