This may seem like poor advice, but what if I said it's okay to feel sad? There is so much

overwhelming pressure to be great, to look great, to post something great, but what if I just don't feel great? And no matter how many times I watch

Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy on YouTube, it doesn't do the trick. So now what?

Be it scrolling social media or seeing a billboard advertisement, there are plenty of life hacks,

promising you the happiest, healthiest, best version of you've ever had.

Everyone, it would seem, has their entire life together.

They look so happy, beautiful, employed

even, not a care in the world. But what if I told you it's okay to feel sad? What if I said

you didn't need to spend the rest of your life feeling like you should be somebody

else.

That it's okay not to post that antidepressant selfie with a filter that makes everyone think

everything is hashtag perfect.

Sadness isn't an illusion or this self-induced cloud we've beckoned over our heads.

The dictionary defines sadness as an occurrence of sorrow. I'm done deeper into the word

sorrow, a little bit more. So maybe instead of it's an occurrence of sorrow, perhaps

maybe an occurrence of grief or an occurrence of regret, being so mad or frustrated

that you have to scream until a pillow or cry yourself to sleep or lie there in the darkness feeling numb

or maybe simply just feeling unhappy for no particular reason these moments we've all experienced

to some degree or another and it might not be okay to everyone,

but I want to say it's okay to me.

Almost every step forward has been preceded by some form of sadness or setback.

We're all searching for happiness, and we've been told that if we work hard enough,

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