I give myself permission to feel this way without judgment.

There is no committee. Nobody is standing by to sign off on what you are allowed to feel — though the relief when somebody appears to is enormous, and out of all proportion to the few words involved.

A manager saying take the afternoon. A friend saying honestly, that would rattle anyone.

Issuing it yourself feels like cheating, and it is not. The requirement that a feeling justify itself before being allowed to exist was never enforceable in the first place.

Feelings do not become real because you approved of them. They were already real.