Rise Anyway — Even When the World Feels Heavy

(a love letter for the days when joy feels like rebellion)

I know. The world feels heavy right now.

Maybe you've been watching — heart cracked open — as freedoms are stripped away.
Watching the news, scrolling your feed, trying to wrap your head around how we’re still here.
Still fighting for basic rights. Still being told some people are more deserving of life than others.
Still watching violence, war, cruelty — while pretending to be “normal” at work, or brushing your teeth.

I feel it too.

That ache that settles in your chest and mind. That exhaustion in your bones.
That sharp awareness of injustice and cruelty… mixed with this strange guilt when you dare to feel joy.

Because how can I laugh when there’s so much pain?
How can I dance when they’re bombing cities?
How can I rise when others are just trying to survive?

But love… I need you to know something.

Rising isn’t betrayal.
Joy isn’t ignorance.
Expression isn’t selfish.

It’s rebellion.
It’s sacred.
It’s necessary.

Especially now.

Because the world wants you quiet.
It wants you flattened, numb, apologetic, and compliant.
It wants you small. Distracted. Too overwhelmed to move.

So when you choose to feel joy — even for five minutes — it’s a spark of resistance.
When you share your voice, your weirdness, you silliness, your excitement, your creativity —
you’re not turning away from the pain of the world.

You're reminding it what humanity is supposed to look like.

You don’t have to pretend it’s not heavy.

It is.

You’re allowed to scream into your pillow and rage-cry on the floor.
You’re allowed to sign petitions, show up in solidarity, light candles, yell in protest, take breaks from social media, turn off the news, come back to yourself.

You’re allowed to be scared.
And still rise.

You’re allowed to feel grief.
And still crack open to joy.

You’re allowed to hold both —
rage and reverence.
sorrow and celebration.
a broken heart and a wide open one.

I’ve felt it too — that guilt for wanting to feel good.

I’ve asked myself, Is it okay to laugh today? To create today? To post something joyful today?

And I’ve realised — it’s not just okay.
It’s needed.

Because you and I? We’re not ignoring the world.
We’re part of it. We feel it. And we’re choosing not to collapse into despair.

We’re choosing to build something different.

That’s why I started Feel Good Rebel in the first place —
to rebel against the idea that we must earn our worth.
To shake off the lie that says you must struggle, shrink, or prove something to exist.

And now, in this moment of wild collective unraveling, that rebellion feels more important than ever.

We rise by being human.

Messy, magical, contradictory, delicious humans.

We rise by remembering joy is not frivolous.
It’s fuel.

We rise by making art, starting podcasts, dressing weird, crying in public, making memes, making soup, and making each other laugh again.

We rise by gathering in places where our full selves are welcome —
where we can say “I’m scared,” and someone else says, “Me too. Let’s rise anyway.”

That’s what Worthy & Rising is for.
It’s not a performance stage. It’s a campfire for rebels, weirdos, dreamers, misfits, and too-much-beautiful-souls like you.
We talk gratitude. We talk boundaries. We talk joy. We talk magic.
We cry. We howl. We celebrate.

We remember who we are.

You can join us here, if it feels like home:
👉 Join Worthy & Rising

And please remember this:

There are still people out there who celebrate expression.
Who celebrate you.
Even if you haven’t met them yet.

They exist. We exist.
And the more you let yourself be seen, the easier it becomes for us to find each other.

So yes — rise.
Even when it feels hard.
Even when it feels wrong.
Even when your voice shakes and the world feels like it’s burning.

Because in a world that wants to erase you,
your joy is sacred.
Your self-expression is revolutionary.
Your very existence is a kind of magic that cannot be unmade.

We rise together, by our mere presence and by expressing ourselves. 

And I’m so glad you’re here.

Now come join the Worthy & Rising Community.