Overwhelming emotion starts to rise in your chest, your eyes start to water, you can feel the lump getting bigger in your throat and it’s really starting to hurt, you try your hardest not to burst into tears flapping your hand back and forward like a fan in front of your eyes. Its fine you have this under control you will not cry you tell yourself over and over again. You take a deep breath and walk back into the room, someone asks you if you are okay, you try your hardest to reply with ‘yes I am fine’ but before you can finish your sentence the tears are already rolling down your cheeks and before you know it you are sobbing.
Does the above sound familiar, do you have those days when all you want to do is cry but you really don’t have a clue why? You feel stupid because when someone asks you what’s wrong you don’t even know what to say because you don’t even know why you are crying.
When you finally stop crying, sobbing or even wailing (because let’s be honest we have all been there) we can bet you feel like a tonne of bricks have been taken off your shoulders. We all have these days where we feel more emotional than others don’t feel like you are alone because you certainly are not.
Growing up we were told over and over again don’t be a ‘cry baby’, as if only babies were supposed to cry. Crying can be judged and it has definitely left us feeling embarrassed a fair few times, running to the toilets splashing our face with cold water and slapping more concealer and powder on our faces to try and get rid of our red blotchy faces in the hope that no one will notice. Don’t think it makes you weak, people cry not because they are weak but because they have been strong for too long.
Some people see crying as a sign of weakness but facing up to your emotions involves strength in the form of vulnerability. Holding back the tears doesn’t make the pain or emotions go away instead we are fundamentally digging ourselves a giant hole and burying our emotions alive. So let it all out cry as much as you want and don’t feel like you have to justify why you are crying to anyone.