It’s Brave to Feel Deeply
An invitation to stay tender in a world built to numb you.
It’s Brave to Feel Deeply
An invitation to stay tender in a world built to numb you.
Sara Kuburic
Sep 06, 2026
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“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying” or “this is so embarrassing, I didn’t mean to cry” are common phrases that I hear. But why? In a world of curation and AI, where we cope and numb ourselves through scrolling, binge-watching, and drinking, to name a few,
it’s refreshing to meet someone who is so present and moved by life itself. Someone not scared to feel.
I wish more people had a song they couldn’t listen to without tearing up, a commercial that always makes them sob, and movies that make their heart feel like it’s outside their body being thrown against a wall. I wish people reread the same book or poem that made them feel deeply. I wish we went to watch plays as a cathartic experience, spent hours in museums being moved by beauty, and simply used therapy as a supplement rather than the main event.
Helen Keller put it simply in
The Story of My Life
: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart.”
So much of the world is asking to be felt, and to do that we must remain tender and unarmed.
I'm so tired of the optimization culture that dehumanizes us. The specific flavor of self-help that encourages us to treat humans like projects and checklists. The widely misunderstood form of stoicism, prizing composure over simply being.
This is the part that actually takes courage: not just the feeling itself, but the risk that comes with it. The acknowledgment that you haven't sealed yourself off from being hurt, moved, or changed. Brené Brown put it well: "Vulnerability is not weakness. It's our most accurate measure of courage." Staying that open, again and again, after you already know it can cost you, is the brave part.
So, if you’re someone who feels deeply, I hope this encourages you to keep doing so. If you don’t (or have stopped for some reason), I hope you take this as an invitation to allow yourself to begin.
Reflection question:
What is something you’ve felt deeply?
What did it teach you about yourself and the world?
What would change if you treated that feeling as courage instead of a flaw?
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It’s On Me: Accept Hard Truths, Discover Your Self, and Change Your Life
CHAPTER 9
Feel It All:
Experience and Express Your Emotions
(Excerpt:)
A
s a society,
we are not particularly comfortable with emotions—other people’s or our own. It’s unlikely you’ll hear someone say, “Oh my god, did you see how emotional Karen got at the party last night?” and interpret it as a compliment. Or, after seeing a person scream into a pillow, most of us wouldn’t think,
Yes, queen! You’re killing it at life!
When someone expresses their emotions (particularly seemingly “negative” emotions), they are often mocked, judged, or thought to be acting from a space that has clouded their “better judgment.” Somehow, being “emotional” has become a synonym for being “unreasonable” or “out of control.” We often feel, and in return make others feel, embarrassed for simply
having
emotions.
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