It’s not that deep.

This is a saying commonly spoken – one I used to say frequently. Social media? It’s not that deep. School? It’s not that deep. Hurting someone’s feelings? It’s not that deep. Life? It’s not that deep. Nothing was “that deep” to me, but I started to wonder, was I stripping myself of the feelings I was meant to feel by telling myself to feel less about everything?

I’ve always been the type of person to stay so busy that I never have the time to think about my feelings, let alone face them. My feelings were so strong and too overwhelming; ignoring them was better. Anything that made me feel more than I was comfortable with, I shrugged off my shoulders, saying “it’s not that deep” to anything and everything, even the things that really were “that deep.”

Sometimes, it’s nice to just ignore things, to not let the little things bother us so much or take up space in our lives and our minds, and I think it’s a strength to be able to get over the things that should not consume us so easily, but finding the balance between that and allowing yourself to feel the hard feelings that you’re meant to feel is where the real challenge comes.

Sometimes things are serious. Sometimes they mean a lot. Sometimes feelings are strong and uncomfortable, but they are needed. No matter how hard it is, learning to face, process, accept and deal with emotions is a vital part of being human. We actually remove an aspect of life that we are meant to experience by forcing ourselves not to feel the natural deep emotions that we were designed to bear. If it really wasn’t that deep, would you even think about it? Ask yourself, does saying “it’s not that deep” truly convince anyone? Even yourself? In an attempt to protect yourself from the disturbance of feelings you don’t want to feel, you’re only shoving them away and lying to yourself.

And you could say, “Lake, you’re taking a saying so seriously,” but noticing the small things, overthinking a little, feeling those strong emotions even when it’s uncomfortable is what (I think) life is about.

And yet… after all that noticing, maybe it really isn’t that deep. Maybe it’s just enough to feel it, and then let it pass. I’ll let you decide.