This week I heard it said that confession doesn’t just mean repentance, but confession means freedom.

Lately, confession has brought me freedom, clarity, and a slice of peace from feeling trapped, lonely, untalented, and unanchored. I’ve found that in sharing my burdens with others, my pain is not amplified, but rendered less powerful and my heart more pliable. Change starts to take place not because I tried harder, but because I surrendered.

Lately, confession has brought me freedom, clarity, and a slice of peace from feeling trapped, lonely, untalented, and unanchored. I’ve found that in sharing my burdens with others, my pain is not amplified, but rendered less powerful and my heart more pliable. Change starts to take place not because I tried harder, but because I surrendered.

So many times we carry our burdens with us, often forgetting that prayer is a thing and often feeling like we don’t want to bother others. Hide the doubts. Be confident. Chin up. Smiles on. Hustle hard. Our minds become drill sergeants to our hearts, telling them to stay in step, look straight ahead, fall in line. We live our life like we’re curating a series of “before and after” progress posts yet wonder why we’re having trouble when it looks like everyone else is fine. “She’s so pretty, she doesn’t struggle with body image issues…He’s so talented, I envy his creativity and confidence…I gotta be like…I should be like…Why am I not like?…”

Our minds become drill sergeants to our hearts, telling them to stay in step, look straight ahead, fall in line.

But SO. MANY. TIMES. we don’t realize that we’re really living like ships in the night—passing each other by, not knowing that often the insecurities and struggles we’re carrying alone are found in the hearts and minds of the people right next to us.

It took me until college to show anyone but my family the vulnerable sides of me. In high school, I once cried in class and I was horrified. In college, I cried in front of 700 people while giving a speech and I never felt so free.

This is a process, one I continue to struggle with, and chances are, one you struggle with, too. I’m sharing these thoughts today to keep myself accountable to cultivating a soft heart, and to perhaps encourage someone out there, too. I don’t know what you’re struggling with today, but this much is true: you aren’t alone. Your problems aren’t too much. Your insecurities aren’t stupid. Loosen your grip and let go. And as you do, I think you’ll begin to see that freedom can come.

Freedom will come.