Melissa here. I wanted to take a second to share a moment I had this week, from watching the new movie Inside Out 2. For those of you who may have missed the first Inside Out movie, it's an animated depiction of a young girl, Riley, and her journey navigating her emotions, Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Fear.

In this second movie, Riley turns 13, hits the ever painful stage of puberty, and we get introduced to her new emotions: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, Boredom, with an occasional visit by the emotion, Nostalgia, who simply wishes for the good old days. I know many of you wish for that, too. You wish for the good old days before, like me, you either blew up your life by your actions or someone else blew it up for you.

Full disclosure, I've now seen the movie three times. I admit, the first time I just simply wanted to be entertained. It was good to have a moment of self-care and a break. What I didn't anticipate were the powerful moments of therapy related topics that I would have the opportunity to digest, as the writers brilliantly depict how memories affect beliefs and beliefs shape our core identity.

In the movie, we get to see how perilous it can be when an unexpected situation hijacks our core identity. And just like for many of you walking through infidelity, it's hijacked who you believe yourself to be. In the movie, we see Riley struggle to know how to act and be because of the impact anxiety starts having on her mind.

This brings me to my takeaway and what I learned while watching Anxiety and her minions hijack Riley's Imagination Land. As I've watched and thought about this movie, I've been reminded of how powerful the imagination can be for good, or how debilitating and paralyzing it can be.

I recently had to see my dentist. I'm not sure how you feel about dentists, but personally I hate them. I mean, not dentists themselves. If you're a dentist, we love you. I actually love my dentist. He's a wonderful guy with a very kind and gentle staff. But when I get to the dentist, I have some trauma that gets triggered and then anxiety goes in full command. My mind goes into overdrive thinking of every possible worst case scenario imaginable.

And full confession of my anxiety, this last visit had me so worked up that I had to sit up and take a break during my procedure to avoid having a full grown panic attack. In that moment, joy and sanity seemed so far from my mind, which is the same when you're walking through infidelity.

Sanity seems out of reach most days, and you don't know if you'll ever feel joy again. please hear me. I know what you're facing as you walk through this season of tragedy. It is rocking everything you know to be true and shattering the core beliefs you hold about yourself, about your spouse, about your past, about your future.

It's only natural, in this time of pain and unknowns, to let anxiety run full force, like it did for me in the dentist's chair.

And I'm not going to throw sunshine and rainbows all over you right now. Instead, I just simply want to acknowledge that what you're feeling is normal.

It's normal to let your imagination run wild and grasp for possible outcomes. But like my emotionally exhausting dentist experience, is letting my mind think whatever it wants to, helpful? There's a great book Jon Acuff wrote called “Soundtracks”. I highly recommend it. And in it, he talks about taking control of our thoughts by simply filtering them through three questions:

• Is it true?
• Is it kind?
• Is it helpful?

So whether in the dentist's chair or walking through infidelity, is it helpful for us to let our imaginations run unchecked? I know for me it's not helpful. And it's here that I have acknowledged this past week that, yes, all those things I imagined could happen, but other things, good things, could happen too.

For me, I've been challenging myself to take an anxiety timeout. I set a timer for five minutes and grab my journal. I write down all the good outcomes that could happen. They may or they may not. But it's nice for my mind and emotions to get a break from letting anxiety run rampant.

For you, five minutes may be too much to start out with. Maybe it's just acknowledging one good outcome that could come today or tomorrow. Then when you’ve built up enough imagination muscle, what’s one or two good outcomes that could come during the season.

Do yourself a favor this week or maybe today. Take an anxiety break at some point. Let your imagination have a moment to rest.

Again, the pain is real and joy may feel so lost inside of you that you wonder if you could ever experience her again. That's where the beauty of a safe community comes in. Having others around you who know what it's like to walk through this trauma, and have come out on the other side of healing with Joy back in their lives where she belongs. This type of community can help you learn how to do it too. I personally know how a community of experienced guides has transformed me.

And for those of you that may be of faith, don't forget to take a moment to let your imagination factor God in. To paraphrase Philippians 4:8-9, "whatever is true, right, pure, lovely, excellent, think about these things and the peace of God will be with you".

So grab a ticket, a bucket of popcorn, go see “Inside Out 2” and sign up for a course if you haven't already. You deserve to have a supportive community of people around you as you walk through this.

We hope you take a moment to comment below on anything that's helped you in your healing journey to healing.