When Life Gives You Lemons, Sometimes You’ve Gotta Cry About It

You might have heard the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But sometimes, when life gives us lemons, we can—and sometimes should—cry.
Then we can make lemonade. 

A few days ago, I went to a funeral for a dear friend, one of my community’s original dance teachers. After the funeral, we came together for a beautiful, painful practice called “sitting Shiva,” a period of seven days where people mourn, share stories, laugh, rejoice in memories, and cry as a community. To process their grief. To really, truly feel their feelings. It’s not an easy experience, but it’s so important and very powerful for healing. 

This reminded me how important it is to give ourselves permission to feel our feelings, especially when life gets hard. Sometimes the first step to healing is leaning into the hard feelings instead of pushing them away.

We all deal with heavy life challenges, from loss and grief to losing a job, a difficult medical prognosis, a breakup, a conflict, or a major unexpected expense.

Our bodies immediately know.
We are meant to feel it.

Perhaps the chest will feel pressure, the stomach may cramp, the throat can tighten. If we don't find a way to process and release pain, fear, frustration, and sorrow, these emotions can linger in our nervous systems and show up later in different ways as anxiety, impatience, anger, emotional overwhelm, or physical ailments that affect our wellbeing (dis-ease → disease).

Before it gets to that, we can listen to our bodies and let those emotions express. 

Cry. Silent-scream or loud scream into your elbow. Talk it out. Punch a pillow. Go for a run. Lift weights. Take a walk. Write it down. Find a healthy way to let the energy move through you. It might take some time. Hours, days, weeks or even months, depending upon the severity and how you, as an individual, respond. 

This does not mean living there forever. After our bodies release and relax and the intensity begins to soften, we can start to process, integrate, and move forward. 

Then we can make lemonade. 

Tonight, in my dance class, we will celebrate our friend who passed. We will dance her favorite dances, and share stories, tears, hugs, and some laughs. And all of this is okay. All of this is part of the healing process. This will be the start of our lemonade. 

And since life has been handing out a few lemons lately, I thought I'd share one of my favorite lemonade recipes.

🍋 Delightfully Delicious Lemonade

🥤 In your glass, add:
🍋 Fresh-squeezed lemon juice (and a few lemon slices, if you'd like)
🌿 Fresh mint — gently crush the leaves to release their flavor
🪻 Lavender — dried lavender in a tea infuser
💧 Cool water and 🧊 ice
🍯 A touch of sweetener, if desired. I prefer natural options like organic raw honey, agave, or cane sugar.
🪔If you don't have fresh ingredients, you can also add a drop or two of therapeutic-grade essential oils—more or less to taste. For a single glass, dip the tip of a toothpick into the oil and swirl it into your drink.

🌈 Now for the best part:

✨Find a spot outdoors or your favorite cozy chair, then give yourself permission to pause, be present, and really enjoy the moment.
✨Take a deep breath.
✨Smell the delicious scents.
✨Notice the sounds and beauty around you.
✨Take a sip and let it linger on your tongue.
✨Savor the flavor.
✨What do you notice? Is it sweet? Sour? Tart? Cool? Smooth? Bright? Refreshing?
✨Enjoy this moment.
✨Aaaah. 💛🍋✨

Whatever lemons life may have presented to you lately, I hope you'll give yourself permission to feel what needs to be felt, trust your own healing process, and give yourself space, grace, and a little sweetness along the way. 💛

Remember, you don't have to navigate it alone.

If you'd like support, encouragement, and practical tools to help you move through life's challenges with greater ease, you're warmly invited to join us inside the Joy Alchemy Community. Each Wednesday at 12 PM Pacific, we gather online to practice simple techniques that help regulate our nervous systems, cultivate greater calm, and create more health, joy, and wellbeing—one small step at a time.

And if you're moving through a challenging season of life and would like more personalized support, I would love to connect with you through a complimentary Pain to Possibility Discovery Call. Together, we can explore what healing, growth, and greater joy might look like for you.

Sending you love, light, and delicious lemonade 💛🍋✨