October 16, 2026- Feelings are temporary

Act the way you want to feel.

~David Schwartz

Fake it till you make it. We’ve heard that a million times. Why does it work?

If we smile for long enough, we are bound to feel some happiness. Frown for just long enough, and we’re likely to cry. Slouch your shoulders, droop your head, and say out loud, “I’m so brave.“ I’m willing to bet that didn’t sound convincing.

Our language speaks to us, and nothing speaks quite as loudly as our body language. Our physical actions go a long way to determining our emotions. This does not mean we are obligated to maintain a social mask that denies our true feelings. We are allowed to feel what we feel, and to express that to others. At the same time, if we don’t like how we’re feeling, we have the power to change it. We can act the way we would prefer to feel. We can guide ourselves away from the feelings we'd like to leave behind and toward those we want.

Feelings are temporary. They are informative. They are useful. But feelings should be more like the weather than they are like the climate. We don’t need to get stuck in them. We can use our actions to move our feelings. We can act the way we would like to feel. We can take control of our lives and of the way we feel about our lives. We are not our circumstances; we are our choices.