it's my blog and i'll cry if i want to
so yesterday i had started writing this whole post somewhat defending hillary's "moment of emotion," but apparently new hampshire took care of that for me. my defense didn't include her coming in first, however...
i guess what i really wanted to defend is the act of crying, not the female presidential candidate. i'll be the first to admit my guilt of underestimating the importance of shedding necessary tears — so much so, it affected my personal well-being. what i've had to learn by experience is that crying is completely natural, and completely misjudged — contrary to what seems to be socital belief, crying does not equal weakness.
i grew up in a family that didn't cry, so to me it wasn't something "normal" to do. i can count on one hand the total number of times i have seen my immediate family members cry — combined. now that's not to say i don't despise people who use overuse tears as tools for attention and manipulation, but it would have been nice to see some signs that my family was human.
there are many different scientific and psychological studies on the health benefits of shedding sorrowful tears – both mental and physical. it's also really interesting to read about how the acceptability of crying has changed over time.
just in this past year have i experienced what i would consider the most real cry of my life. the emotional take-over was so physically exhausting i had to take a nap in the middle of it. i couldn't stop, and for the first time i didn't want to. it was so cleansing, overpowering, soothing and in the end, it balanced me. it really made me see the significance of such a natural, human ability.
i still don't practice crying on a regular basis, although for me i'm not sure i ever will because people are different and the frequency of needing to cry obviously varies. the good thing is that i now know it doesn't make me a weak person to do so, in fact, it seemed to take more strength to let myself really cry than continue not to. it made me face the realization that there really are things in my life i can't control, and that i'm not invincible. i do know that if i ever feel the need to bawl uncontrollably again i won't be as hesitant to hold back, and i now think much differently about others when they need to cry.
i guess what i really wanted to defend is the act of crying, not the female presidential candidate. i'll be the first to admit my guilt of underestimating the importance of shedding necessary tears — so much so, it affected my personal well-being. what i've had to learn by experience is that crying is completely natural, and completely misjudged — contrary to what seems to be socital belief, crying does not equal weakness.
i grew up in a family that didn't cry, so to me it wasn't something "normal" to do. i can count on one hand the total number of times i have seen my immediate family members cry — combined. now that's not to say i don't despise people who use overuse tears as tools for attention and manipulation, but it would have been nice to see some signs that my family was human.
there are many different scientific and psychological studies on the health benefits of shedding sorrowful tears – both mental and physical. it's also really interesting to read about how the acceptability of crying has changed over time.
just in this past year have i experienced what i would consider the most real cry of my life. the emotional take-over was so physically exhausting i had to take a nap in the middle of it. i couldn't stop, and for the first time i didn't want to. it was so cleansing, overpowering, soothing and in the end, it balanced me. it really made me see the significance of such a natural, human ability.
i still don't practice crying on a regular basis, although for me i'm not sure i ever will because people are different and the frequency of needing to cry obviously varies. the good thing is that i now know it doesn't make me a weak person to do so, in fact, it seemed to take more strength to let myself really cry than continue not to. it made me face the realization that there really are things in my life i can't control, and that i'm not invincible. i do know that if i ever feel the need to bawl uncontrollably again i won't be as hesitant to hold back, and i now think much differently about others when they need to cry.
posted by dub at 10:35 AM
1 Comments:
I was from a family of criers, especially the women. In my family, women seemed to bawl at times to get their way... and once I hit the realization that I didn't want to be like that (around 16), I tried to hold it back. Then I found that when I got really angry (say, at work), I got choked up and even started crying a couple of times. It's better to let it out when it makes sense to do it. And yes, it can be so cleansing - those kind of emotional releases are like a new start, like swiping everything that just isn't working off the drawing board, so to speak, and starting over.
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