I was walking through a grocery store a few years ago and a thought hit me: “If all of us shoppers were honest, if we showed what we really felt inside, I bet many of us would cry.”
And I would have bawled right alongside them. I’d sit right down in the middle of the isle, defeated and exhausted, with snot-bubbles and everything.
I watched them make their way through the produce section and I felt sad—most of them looked so deadened. It made me sadder still knowing I was one of them.
I wondered: If the whole grocery store was crying inside, what would happen if we huddled together in the middle of the store and just sobbed? Just wailed and held each other? We could take our cue from the kid in Isle 3, and just let it all out for five or ten minutes.
So we did. The whole grocery store cried.
Now of course this didn’t really happen, but imagine it: Just being together, comforting each other, allowing our grief to lift to the rafters, and telling each other it would be okay.
One day something happened that turned my world completely upside down. I won’t rehash the details, but the pain was unbearable, and I knew, “I’ve got to do something or this will take me out.”
It was at this point, the effort it took to not cry was harder than just crying. And I started letting it out.
And I started getting better.
I still have days where I want to join the kid in Isle 3, but those days are rare. Unfortunately it’s also still a rare thing to see a truly happy face in the grocery store. But now I think I’m one of them.
So, how about you? If I passed you in the store and your feelings showed on your face, what would I see? (Share below.)