Joy That Is Not Yet Whole
Rav Heller weighed whether to make the day of his release a festival, and found that complete joy had to wait.
After his release Rav Heller wondered whether to establish the twenty-eighth of Av as a yom tov, as many do for the day of a rescue. He wrote that he was penniless, stripped of his post and his honor, and deep in debt, so his relief was mixed with grief. Then he opened the introduction to Yosef Lekach, Rav Eliezer Ashkenazi's commentary on Esther, which asks why the Chashmonaim never set a festival for their miraculous victory. The answer is that joy was incomplete: many had fallen, and the Beis Hamikdash had been plundered. Seeing himself in these words, Rav Heller held back. Only years later, when his honor was restored in Krakow, did he fix the first of Adar as a family day of thanks. A feast, he teaches, belongs to a day when the heart is truly whole.
Source: Megillas Eivah, Part 1 (HebrewBooks.org/9529)
If you are relieved about something this week but still carry sadness, you do not need to choose between the two. Say thank you to Hashem for the good, and say honestly what is still hard. Then name one thing you are still waiting for, and trust that a complete day will come. Rav Heller waited years before declaring his feast. You can be grateful today without pretending that everything is finished.