I’ve been down to visit the Occupy Wall Street protesters several times over the past few weeks. Each time I visit, I am surprised to see how this movement continues to shift and change. The organization of the movement is coming together. There are still a million different messages, but people are generally standing behind one concept: change.

I am still not sure of what exactly they are demanding, but the one thing that moves my spirit each time I visit, is the out pouring of emotion and the willingness to tell stories to spark the changes they are seeking.

The American motto is “work hard.” I have heard of people walking past the protesters and shouting “Get a job!” at them as if getting a job is as easy a buying a new pair of shoes or a Big Mac.  Our ideology is interesting. We aggressively sell people this idea that furthering your education automatically guarantees you the opportunity to work in a job that you actually want. Yet, when that fails to happen, you are told to stop whining and complaining. We tell people get a job, any job, work hard, work your way up, and we keep their dreams lingering on this idea that “maybe someday you can be somebody.”

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been described as a hippie movement by a bunch of whinny people, but I applaud them for  having the guts to convey what many of us are afraid to say: Any job is not okay. We did not go to school for ANY job. We do not go into debt for ANY job. We went with an idea and a promise in mind, and we want what we want (including the right to be paid what we are worth), and there is nothing wrong with saying that.

It is not weak or lazy to express how you feel.

Here, in the U.S., we want to medicate everything. We want quick fixes, and a salve that promises to heal all of our wounds instantly. We don’t like to allow ourselves to break down, to cry, to feel sick and sad. We shove our feelings deep into the depth of our hearts, and put on a happy face-even if we are crying on the inside.

There have been many times in my life when I have wanted to give up. From instances that are as insignificant as when I learned to ride my bike without training wheels, to the more emotionally taxing experience of  spending nearly a year unemployed,  I have wanted to throw my hands up in the air.

Faking happy sucks.

If is okay to feel sad. It is okay to be disappointed and wonder why this is happening to you and what the heck can be done about it.

I am not suggesting that you stay there, but if you happen to land in a sad place, don’t be afraid to experience it. Go through it. Don’t drown it out. Turn it into forward motion and action when you are ready to pick up the pieces.

The key words being: when you are ready. Because the other part of our ideology is this massive message of hope. Of not giving up when things get tough, of having the great choice of choosing to go after what makes you happy.

Some of the protesters might seem like hippies, but they are taking on the challenge of what many people in this country cannot bring themselves to do: stop faking the funk so that we can rebuild and rebound.